Remedy
by MissBesanii
Summary: Move while you're watching me dance with the enemy. VolknerxOC Rated T for language and mature themes.
1. Set up

_Hey, this was on my joint account with my two little sisters, but I wasn't active on there so I decided to bring it over to my main account. It's not my usually cannon character shippings, but a VolknerxOC fic. I never was a fangirl of Volkner except for the fact he had a Raichu, but my little sisters wrote me a birthday fic and used him for it. The fact that he's a tsundere is a bonus, you know I have a weakness for them. So yeah, this is only going to be written when I have writer's block, as it's a good way to release any emotions I personally have. It won't be consistent, and may never be finished, but I hope you enjoy!  
_

* * *

_**Remedy****  
**_

_No more poison, killing my emotion  
I will not be frozen  
Dancing is my Remedy.  
~Little Boots._

_

* * *

_

She'd been travelling in this foreign region for quite a while now, and was now heading to the final city, where the Grand Festival would be held.

"Rai..."

Her Raichu, nicknamed an unoriginal name; RaiRai, shuffled beside her lazily, no longer wanting to walk.

"We're almost there." The girl replied, equally as lagged. The two shared a bond that would not be broken, and their feelings tended to run parallel to each other. It was very convenient for the Contest Battles.

RaiRai sighed; "Cha..."

"Look!" The girl sighed; "It's there!"

With a new found energy, they began running towards the large city.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Somebody shouted as the two flew past him. "Where do you think you're going?"

She skidded to a halt, RaiRai doing so moments after and they wheeled to face whoever they'd past. Her eyes lit up in recognition; "Flint!" She squealed, now flying in his direction to literally leap into him. She was a glomp ninja. He stumbled back from the crash, but as he had expected it from the many glomps he had received knowing her, he managed to stay upright.

"Hey Missy." He wrapped his arms around her tightly, in his famous bear hug.

"It's so good to see you." She grunted through what little air she had above his restricting arms. He chuckled and let go of her.

Taking her shoulders, he pushed her back so he could see her properly. She grinned up at him with her emerald eyes. "I knew the television didn't do you justice."

She rolled her eyes; "You flatter me."

He shrugged back and nudged her with his fist; "I aim to please." Holding out his arm in invitation, and she accepted with a giggle. With linked arms, they strolled into Sunyshore.

"Hey RaiRai." Flint added as they set off, and the Raichu cheered its name in response. The Elite Four member turned back to his friend. "So, Miss Besanii, here for the Grand Festival?"

"Here to win." She winked, and the Raichu cheered too. "What about you though? Career change?"

He chuckled; "Nahh, got to give you a chance, don't I?"

She punched him playfully; "You know I'd wipe you at a contest battle."

"Sure, your pokemon wouldn't stand a chance against mine." He retorted; "Hence why I refuse to battle you."

She snorted; "You're just scared."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"I don't need to, it's fact."

"Okay, okay!" Flint laughed, giving in, but mentally noting that he knew he was the better trainer to stroke his ego. "If you must know, I'm here to help a friend."

"What's wrong?" She asked, her voice only a little concerned. Afterall, she didn't know if this friend was even male or female. _Probably a girl. _She thought to herself, and the urge to smirk was almost unbearable.

"He's just going through a down phase, and challengers started complaining about the way he was battling..." He trailed off.

"Volkner?" She perked up.

"Yeah," he sighed sadly; "Why, do you know him?"

"No, but I know he has a Raichu."

RaiRai's ears perked, and he grinned up at Besanii. Said girl smiled back.

Flint nodded and continued; "I was hoping I could come and cheer him up. He said on the phone he'd gotten bored."

"Do you think he's going to quit?" Besanii wondered, drifting off in thought about being a gym leader. It must have been terribly tedious after a while.

"I hope not," Flint answered honestly, "he's the best electric trainer we've got. They've even been thinking about promoting him to the Elite four when Bertha retires."

"Wow." Besanii said politely, not all that interested, but nevertheless impressed.

"Wait a minute." The hotheaded elite member stopped in his tracks, then stared at her intently. She stared back with bewildered eyes; "What's wrong?" She said, slightly panicked.

A sly smirk played across his lips as he pulled her into a hug again. She patted him nervously; "What's wrong?"

"I have to go!" And with that, he zoomed off without another word. She spun round to see where he'd gone and squealed; "Flint! You can't just ditch me like that!"

She began to run after him, and RaiRai followed with a grumble.

* * *

Having never been in this city before, she winded up getting lost. Heading through a market place, she found herself at the beach.

"Oh well, I'm tired. Shall we go soak some rays?" She looked down to Raichu, who had sat down and nodded eagerly to the red-headed coordinator. "Come on." She said, hoisting up her unusually small electric mouse, and started for the sands.

The beach was small, and very quiet. Only one person sat close to the shoreline, and he stared out to the horizon without moving in the slightest.

Avoiding him to leave him in peace and quiet, she sat a few yards away from him, and lay her sleeping Raichu on the warm sands. She knelt beside him to stroke the static fur gently.

"I'm not battling today." He said sharply, causing her to jump. She looked over curiously, and he stared back with a bored, emotionless expression.

She looked behind her stupidly, and then turned back to realise he was talking to her; "Oh, I'm not here to battle. I wanted to relax."

He sighed; "This is my private area of the beach."

"Oh, sorry. I saw no signs." She dipped her head slightly, ashamed. She stood up and went to wake RaiRai when the man muttered; "don't worry about it. Waking electric pokemon is dangerous."

She grinned; "You sound like you know from experience."

A smirk played at his lips as he realised she had no idea who he was. "You have no idea." He muttered, pulling out a pokeball and realising his own Raichu.

"They're brilliant pokemon, aren't they?" He muttered, patting his average sized Raichu. It smiled and murmured its name in bliss.

Besanii nodded; "Me and RaiRai have been best friends for many years. We're very good partners."

"He looks a little-"

She interrupted him immediately, and RaiRai woke. "Don't say it." She shook her head frantically, and patted her Raichu until it drifted back to sleep. "He's sensitive."

The blonde nodded and smirked, then looked back to the horizon.

Feeling the need to talk to him now he'd allowed her to stay, she sparked any conversation that popped into her head; "So how come you get your own private beach?"

He snorted gently; "Being a gym leader has _some _privileged." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye to watch as realisation dawned on her.

"You're Volkner." She gasped, and red flushed into her cheeks. He nodded and laughed half-heartedly.

"I'm Besanii." She held her hand out awkwardly, and he eyed it a second before taking it and nodding; "Pleasure." He muttered politely.

She stared at her lap; "Sorry, I should have known-"

"No worries. I don't get out much." He insisted, his voice droned off, bored again. A certain friend's words suddenly popped into her head; "Flint's been looking for you." She blurted, turning even more red from her outburst.

"I know." He sighed, then raised an eyebrow at her; "You know Flint?"

She nodded; "We go way back."

He looked at her hair pointedly and she shook her head; "We're not related. Just share similar... Tastes."

"I see." He sighed. He rolled his eyes and looked to the ocean.

She chose to ignore it. "Are you avoiding him?"

He groaned slightly; "A little, but he knows he'll find me here."

She frowned; "Then why do you wait here?"

He sighed, exasperated; "Because it's the only place I can get peace and quiet."

"Oh..." She droned off; "Would you like me to leave?"

He shrugged; "You're fine, you don't speak as loud as he does."

She giggled nervously, knowing very well she could be as loud as Flint, but he was just more likely to do so.

They sat in silence for a little while, and she leant back on her elbows to relax on the private beach.

"So you don't want to battle me?" He asked her curiously, and she shook her head; "No thank you, I'm not a trainer."

He eyed her Raichu, and she explained; "I'm a coordinator."

He nodded; "I forgot the league was a month away."

"Grand Festival." She muttered.

"What?"

"It's a Grand Festival." She repeated, smiling sweetly so as not to be rude about her correction.

"THERE YOU ARE!"

Volkner groaned and flashed her a look as if to say 'I told you so.' She grimaced slightly in sympathy. Even RaiRai jumped awake.

"Would you like me to distract him?" She asked quietly, and he nodded back quickly.

"Besanii!" Flint grinned, wrapping an arm around her; "I see you've met a fellow Raichu trainer!"

She nodded back; "We've been swapping stories about them."

Volkner nodded quietly, keeping his eyes to the floor. Bored again.

She turned to Flint; "I'm hungry, fancy something to eat?" She flashed her eyes to the electric gym leader, who looked quite shocked at her.

"Sounds good!" He beamed, then turned to spot the silent communication; "Are you coming, too?"

"I'll be alright thanks." He replied, bowing his head; "It was nice to meet you, Besanii, RaiRai."

"You too." She held out her hand, and he stared at it. Eventually he shook it, and Flint turned to walk off. She nodded to Volkner, who was still staring at her intently. She wondered if she'd forgotten something. "Oh! Thank you for letting us stay on your beach."

"You're welcome, thanks for giving me peace and quiet." She caught a glimpse of his rare smile, and beamed back at him, then turned to run after her long-time friend.

* * *

"So what did he say to you?" Flint mumbled through his food. Besanii gritted her teeth and waited for him to swallow and apologise. She then looked down at her pasta meal and shrugged; "Not much, he isn't much of a talker, is he?"

"He used to be." Flint sighed, placing down his fork and lifting a drink. After taking a sip, he leaned forward to whisper to her; "We used to be fierce rivals, and his fiery passion was second only to _mine_."

"Wow. What's changed him so dramatically?" She asked, only a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

He shrugged; "Who knows? There are rumours going around, but I think he's just bored of the same day every day of his life."

I nodded; "I guess, most Gym Leaders move around, but I've never seen Volkner anywhere..."

"He rarely left his gym, when he first started. Said he was committed to being the best Gym Leader ever, and he got challenged all the time." Flint nodded thoughtfully.

Besanii stabbed a shell of pasta with her fork, and began munching on it as they thought. "I think he just wants some time alone..."

"Nahh..." Flint smirked; "I think he wants company. Even as an Elite Four member, you hardly get time to socialise. Being third of the Elite, I hardly ever get any challengers anyway! It must be a lot harder for a Gym Leader to make friends."

"I guess so." Just as she agreed, Flint's phone buzzed beside his hand. He sighed; "That's probably them now." He clicked the phone and scanned his message, sighing heavily; "just as I thought. They need me tomorrow."

"What?" She whined; "You're leaving me so soon?"

He held up his hands; "I have responsibilities... I don't want to leave you _or_ Volkner..." He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening as he stared at her.

"Flint?"

"I had a thought earlier..." He smiled slyly; "That maybe a girl would cheer him up. It only just dawned on me this second that you're a girl."

"Oh thanks!" She retorted; "And no, Flint. Don't think you're setting me up with some Gym Leader I met for a day because he's lonely."

He clasped his hands together; "Please, Besanii? You don't have to do anything... Just keep him company until I get back."

"He seemed pretty reluctant to talk to me earlier, why should I bother? I have training to do you know!" She whined.

Flint brought out the Puppy-Growlithe eyes, the ones he knew melted Besanii. "Please? You'd be doing me a really huge favour, and you could probably learn a lot from him."

She glared at him, resisting the urge to give in for as long as she could, but his deep red eyes penetrated her emerald ones, and eventually she sighed; "Fine! But only because he might quit. I'm not happy you'll be wasting my time."

"Ahh!" Flint exclaimed, leaping up from his chair and kissing her on the cheek; "You're a star, Besanii, do you know that?"

"So I hear..." She grumbled, stabbing her pasta with much more force than necessary.


	2. Paparazzi

Hesitation kept her fist from knocking, but RaiRai nudged her, and her fist clattered to the glass tile. A small, flat box popped out to the right of the door, which was evidently a speaker. "Who is it?" A bored voice asked.

"Um... Besanii, from earlier? I have something from Flint for you." She mumbled, glaring at the basket he'd prepared for Volkner. Like it wasn't obvious of his intentions, he'd even added a bottle of wine. '_What does he want me to do? Get him drunk and merry?'_

"Oh, come in." He sighed, and a buzzing noise indicated the door was unlocked. She pulled the handle and wandered in. The corridor was lit beautifully, and several machines wandered around alone doing their assigned jobs. One was cleaning, the other carrying pokeballs, another moved to her to take her coat and belongings, including RaiRai. It held out a metal hand expectantly; "May I take your bag?" It asked mechanically.

"No, I have to give it to Volkner. Can I have RaiRai back?" She snatched the pokemon from it's extra claws, and placed him on her shoulder. A red question mark appeared on it's computer screen, and tried to reach for the pokemon again.

"Away." Volkner barked as he entered the corridor. The machine retracted its hands, and scuttled off swiftly. He scowled in its direction, then turned to her; "Come in."

She smiled weakly, and followed him along the corridor. He led her into the arena stands, where they walked straight across and into a room the opposite end. "Drink?" He asked.

"Please." She sat down when he waved towards the sofas. '_Flint will be pleased...' _She thought dryly. Volkner returned with a machine following him. It had flat wheels and a tray for hands, so it could move without spilling the drinks.

"So no Flint this time?"

She shook her head; "He sent me to apologise to you, he had to leave to attend to a battle."

With a bored look on his face, Volkner nodded absently. Besanii panicked and chattered; "I bet that's a relief to you."

He glared up at her; "Flint is a good friend of mine."

She recoiled in surprise; "Mine too, I just thought you wanted some quiet."

"I do." He snapped. She took the hint and stood up. "I'll pass on the drink, thank you." She placed the picnic basket down; "Flint left this for you. He said he couldn't take it with him and thought you might like it."

He stared at it, but said nothing as she turned and left. The machine from before handed the coat to her, and she pulled it over herself as she walked out of the gym again.

'_What a nerve! Just because he's the highest gym leader around here doesn't give him the right to talk down to me! Flint will just have to find someone a little more submissive than me.' _She mentally ranted, like she usually did. She stormed off to the beach, careful not to go onto his private area. '_Pfft. Private beach. Such an antisocial, annoying snob.' _

She sat down, and RaiRai simply watched her as she scowled to the horizon. The sun was descending, and it wouldn't be long before sunset. She loved watching them, nature's beautiful wonders often inspired her work.

As if to prove her wrong, a thud of sand next to her told her she wasn't alone. In her peripherals, she could see it was Flint's basket.

"This is dinner for two." He stated.

"Yeah," she muttered; "you and Flint."

A mocking laugh rang in her ears, just to annoy her. "I'm not stupid."

"You could have fooled me." She retorted, what little patience she had accumulated over her seventeen year old life already wearing thin. However, she received a chuckle, which was enough to make her tear her gaze from the sea.

He met her curious look with humoured eyes; "I never put you down as the sarcastic type."

"Because I'm girly and giggly." She stated.

"Exactly." He rummaged through the picnic basket, and pulled out a red gingham mat. "Now are you going to eat with me or not?"

She frowned; "What, here?"

He watched her sceptically, and she replied; "what about _your_ beach?" Her tone was polite, but the sense of bitter resentment could be heard faintly, as well as reflecting in her over-emotional eyes.

"Well we're already here." He shrugged, pulling out two wine glasses and the bottle. He looked at it; "Red wine. He pushed the boat out."

"Mmm! My favourite!" Besanii looked at the bottle's name and her eyes sparkled. However, Volkner wasn't amused; "Flint doesn't even like red wine." He rose an eyebrow at her.

She coughed, tripping up slightly. '_Now what? Admit I was in on this? He's going to think I'm so stupid desperate fangirl, which I'm not! I couldn't care less!' _

Volkner said nothing more of it, so as not to embarrass her. He simply opened the bottle and poured her a glass. She smiled and nodded back at him, taking a sip as he poured his own.

They both stayed silent for a long while. Besanii, who had never been good with strangers, frantically struggled to find an ice breaker. Knowing nothing about him, she stuck to the one thing she did know; "How did you become a gym leader?"

"I challenged Cynthia, and she offered me the place." He said, bored already. She nodded slowly, sipping more wine to prolong the silence. "Did you always know you wanted to be an electric type trainer?" She added desperately, but he sighed; "Sorry, but can we talk about something else? I really don't want to talk about the gym."

"Of course, sorry." She nodded slowly, but had nothing.

"You said you were a coordinator. Which means you travel, yes?" He started off. Upon seeing her nod, he demanded; "Tell me about it."

"What would you like to know?"

He shrugged; "Where are you from?"

"Sandgem."

He smiled weakly; "Another beach dweller."

She giggled; "Yes, Flint moved there when I was just seven. We grew up together from then. He's like a big brother to me."

"Did you travel with him?"

"For a short time, but like all big brothers, they get annoying." She beamed, her eyes sparkling with memories.

He watched her as she rambled on, answering his questions so his imagination took him away from his dingy monotonous gym. If there was one thing she was good at talking about, it was herself. After all, she knew herself very well.

They ate through the conversation, trading travelling tales and how they came to love their pokemon. The two Raichu played happily, bounding across the sands with happiness. Something Volkner's Raichu hadn't done in quite a while.

"Wow look!" She exclaimed mid sentence. She watched as the sun touched the horizon, sending a huge purple-red aura across the sky and sea, blending them together into a magnificent sunset.

"Mm..." Volkner replied, bored once again.

"Aren't they beautiful?" She whispered as she whipped out her camera. She waited as the silhouetted pokemon danced across the shore together to complete the picture, then clicked away several times.

Volkner sighed; "I guess so." She looked at him with wide eyes; "You don't think so?" She would have continued with her rant about how nature was the most beautiful artist, but she spotted somebody behind them, staring at them continuously. She turned her head slightly, and his hand raised to reveal a camera of his own, much more advanced and technical. "Um... Volkner? Somebody's watching us."

His head shot around as he zeroed in on the paparazzi. "I think we should be moving."

"Oh." She said, disappointed. Seeing as this 'date' had been set up with someone potentially boring, everything had gone to plan, and she'd got him talking again. She'd actually had a nice time. Still, she packed away the remaining food, and allowed Volkner to pick it up. They returned their pokemon and he stormed over to the man, who practically cowered under his glare. "I do not appreciate being disturbed during private dates." He growled.

The man squared up to him; "You were on public ground, I have a right." Suddenly she understood the necessity for Volkner to have a private beach. Being such an important person in Sinnoh meant no privacy.

"Yeah, well I have human rights, and strong pokemon. So back off." Volkner snapped. Besanii frowned behind him, though she was not about to ignore the gym leader's choice of words for their evening. Apparently the man didn't either, he smirked and wandered off, shaking his camera; "I got your date anyway."

She blushed heavily, a trait that made her even more embarrassed when Volkner turned to her. "Let's go somewhere else."

She nodded as he began walking briskly through the streets she was unfamiliar with. She followed quickly, her little legs moving two steps to his one long stride.

"Where are we going?" She asked. He looked down at her, annoyance still in his eye; "Where do you want to go?"

She pursed her lips and looked around, it was just empty market stalls at this time of day; "I don't know what there is to choose from. Surprise me."

He nodded slowly and pointed in her direction to make her turn. She walked ahead, glancing behind her every so often to check she wasn't alone. He stared at her curiously every time, but said nothing.

"In there." He pointed to a set of glass doors. She looked at the building, and then looked up. "The lighthouse?"

He perked an eyebrow at her as he pushed the door open and let her in. She thanked him politely and wandered in, receiving a few stares as she stood beside the city's gym leader; the man who rarely left his gym. Her face heated as he pointed to an elevator, one that nobody was using. The receptionist smiled to him, but did not have it returned as they passed.

Oddly enough, the elevator had no button to call for it. Just a card slot, which Volkner happened to have said card for it as he swiped. The doors slid open immediately, and they entered. Seeing that Volkner stayed facing inside, rather than back to the doors, Besanii noticed another set on the other side, which meant they were getting out the other way.

"Why do you have a personal elevator?" She rose an eyebrow at him. Was he really that big headed?

"Because this leads to somewhere most people aren't allowed to go. You'll see." He assured her quietly, as they started for the top floor. They stayed in quiet as their stomachs dropped, and finally found its normal place once they'd slowed to a stop. He smirked at her knowingly as the doors swung open, the scenery immediately overwhelmed her vision. She gasped in amazement, and stepped out of the elevator before it closed again.

"It's amazing!" She cried, running to the edge and stopping at the barrier. Volkner, being Volkner, didn't have quite the same enthusiasm for something he saw every day, but he joined her nonetheless.

Her eyes glistened as she took in the amazing view, the moonlight's reflection wavered in the ocean, disturbed by a set of pokemon she couldn't make out from a distance, as they leapt in and out of the water. She turned her head to the left, finding the beautiful beach clashing with the shore, and lined with beautiful edge of the city glistened with neon lights as night life began to kick in.

"Wow." She breathed. "Sandgem has nothing on this."

"You can't have a very exciting life then..." He muttered, causing her to frown at him. He paid no mind to it as he continued; "this place is dull."

He'd been staring out to the ocean as he spoke, and when he turned to look why she wasn't responding, she just stared at him with a confused expression. With no idea how to respond, he sat down, dangling his legs through the barrier.

"This is why Flint sent you." It dawned on him suddenly.

She blinked stupidly; "No!" She sat down hurriedly as she gabbled; "he just wanted me to keep you company while he was away." Volkner rose an eyebrow at her, and she mentally face palmed herself as she realised she'd given away Flint's plans.

"I guess he might have kept other plans from me..." She muttered.

"Mmmm..." He agreed.

She moved to sit back; "Sorry, I didn't know... If you let me back in the elevator, I'll leave you alone."

"Why?" He asked, perking a brow at her, she frowned back at him. "Because you're already on the front page because of me now, I don't want to be more trouble to you."

"Sit down." He basically commanded her, and she did so quickly. He smirked slightly as they both looked out to the ocean again. Silence drifted over them stealthily, so as not to be awkward, but peaceful. Neither felt alone though did not look to each other. She pressed her cheek against the bar, sighing gently as she took a few pictures of the surroundings.

"Ever been caught by the Paparazzi before?" He asked, his smirk still playing on his lips. She smiled back; "A few times, but only for good stuff like winning Contests."

"Well this will be fun for you." He chuckled darkly.

Her smile faded as a worried look flashed into its place. "Why?"

"They'll be after quotes from you, and will follow your every move until another story comes along." He rolled off monotonously. "It's best for both of us that you don't say anything, they'll twist even the kindest words to make you look like a bitch and me a heartbreaker."

She grinned; "What happens if you do break my heart?" She teased.

He looked at her sceptically; "Then by all means tell them."

"I have more important things to do in my life, thanks." She laughed and he joined her quietly. They sobered eventually, Besanii doing so slower, but she yawned and shivered, causing her to giggle again. "I guess I ought to get going."

He nodded, and slipped backwards to stand up again. He offered a hand to help her up, and led her back to the elevator.

They got outside and began walking down the solar panel steps. "Where are you staying?"

"I stopped at the Pokemon Centre last night, but I was supposed to have gone to get a hotel today." She pursed her lips; "I hope she kept my room free at the centre..."

He rolled his eyes and pushed her shoulder gently in the opposite direction. "You can stay in my spare room, I had it prepared for Flint anyway."

She stared wide eyed at him; "Are you sure?"

"Would I have offered if I wasn't?"

"Good point." She muttered, following him as he stepped onto the moving side walks.

They reached his Gym, his aura immediately dimming in its presence as he unlocked the front door and wandered inside. She cast a glance around the exterior quickly, but the busy night life gave no sign of noticing her. The electric doors slid shut behind her.


	3. The 'fro

The sound of water rushing woke her, and she stared up at a foreign ceiling. It was something she was used to, being a traveller, but the room was not plain like a Pokemon centre. She sat up quickly, and studied to room. It was a pale blue colour, and decorated with metal furniture, a dull silver so as not to be glaring the sun in her face. The floor was wooden, light and reflective so it warmed nicely in the sunlight. To her left, a gorgeous sea view stared back at her through a balcony door.

Getting too hot under the covers, she slipped out of the bed without waking RaiRai up and opened the glass door, receiving a beautiful morning sea breeze and the distinctive salty smell that made her feel home again when she closed her eyes.

She wandered into the en suite, which had been decorated similarly to the bedroom. The walls were pale green, and everything in there was the same silvery metal, even the shower cubicle. She turned it on and started cleaning up her face as it heated up, wandering around the room and balcony as she brushed her teeth. She took the time to let view sink into her memory, and smiled, feeling privileged just for being there.

Her abnormally tiny electric mouse grumbled as it awoke, stretching out its tail and legs.

"Morning handsome!" She called over her shoulder, listening to her pokemon mutter its name grumpily. Unlike her, RaiRai didn't like mornings.

The door of the bedroom swung open, and a machine wandered in with a tray of breakfast delicacies.

"Um... Thanks." She smiled, even though the machine probably didn't register emotions, given its usual company.

"You're. Welcome." It replied monotonously, placing the tray on some legs it had been carrying to form a cleverly constructed table. She shook her head in amazement, not used to this sort of technology, and walked back into the en suite.

* * *

"Morning." She grinned now she had cleaned up and relaxed on the balcony for an hour or so to let her hair dry in the hot sun. She had pulled on her navy and white bikini, and white short shorts so she could sunbathe too.

Volkner had meanwhile sat at his breakfast bar drinking strong smelling coffee and reading a newspaper. His eyebrows were furrowed as he turned to look at her. "Morning." He muttered politely.

She wandered over and peeked over his shoulder, the picture was in colour, and she spotted her vibrant red hair immediately.

"Wow, we didn't even make the front page." She laughed.

He nodded a few times; "how disappointing."

"I'm offended." She scoffed sarcastically, turning to place her tray in the sink, but the robot from before was already there to take it off her. "You know," she flinched away as the metal claws took the tray; "I don't know how you live like this..."

"Why?"

She smiled and turned around; "all these machines doing everything for you. Maybe it's just because I'm a small town girl."

"Probably, I don't know any different to this." He replied, but in a tone that closed the subject, causing her to purse her lips tightly shut.

She smiled as she sat opposite him, pouring herself a cup of tea and quite a lot of sugar. He stared at her with his jaw slack.

"What?"

He shook his head; "Why do you drink tea so sweet?"

She shrugged. "Gotta stay sweet somehow, don't I?" She winked and sipped gently. He rolled his eyes and looked back down at the newspaper.

"So what did they say about us?" She craned her neck, but it was useless trying to read upside down.

He snorted silently; "More about me, really. How I'm finally out and about."

"That's not bad, is it?" She smiled, quite relieved she wasn't given bad press.

"Hopefully." He muttered under his breath, but she didn't reply, wondering whether she heard anything at all.

Even while the paper was still facing Volkner, she could see the picture well. Thankfully it was a nice photo of her, she was mid smile, her eyes wide dancing with amusement as she looked at Volkner, who looked a little less bored than usual. Her hair had blown out of her face, and it had been shortly after, she remembered, when she noticed the man snapping them.

"Do you have any battles today?" She asked nonchalantly, watching as a machine busied itself with sorting the food in the fridge.

"No actually, not one." He muttered, his frown furrowing more than usual.

"Great!" She smiled; "So what are we doing?"

"What do you mean by we?" He sighed, placing two fingers into his temple. She frowned too; "I mean you and I."

"You can do what you like. I am going to relax for once." He hinted, standing up and moving into the living room with his coffee.

"Oh." She muttered, suddenly feeling a little downhearted.

"Put that Raichu down!" Volkner barked from around the corner, then suddenly a rush of electricity shot past the door. Besanii leapt from her seat and ran for where the attack was coming from, to find Volkner on the floor, slightly blackened and twitching, RaiRai panting on his stomach, and a machine malfunctioning in the corner as it crackled and repeated the word "error" over and over.

A hysterical laugh burst through her lips at the scene as Volkner began to stand, groaning in pain. "Are you alright?" She cackled, crouching beside him to brush at his shoulders. He took her hands away muttering that he was fine, then using her shoulders to get himself to standing again.

RaiRai had meanwhile ran over to his trainer and scampered up her shoulder, grumbling about the machine in its own language.

A buzz of the door startled them, and Volkner groaned.

"I'll get it." Besanii offered; "You get changed."

He nodded and stalked off in the other direction, as she headed across the arena to open the door, instead of using the robot in charge of unlocking the door.

She scanned the touchscreen pad that had been framed to the left of the door, and jabbed her finger onto one of the buttons; "Hello?"

"It's Flint."

"Give me a moment." She muttered, scanning for the unlock button. A key suddenly flashed up at her, and she pressed it quickly, hoping she'd done the right thing. Fortunately, the electric doors slid straight open, allowing Flint shook his head to scan the room quickly and found her, immediately taking her wrist and shaking her; "What the hell?" He barked as RaiRai leapt off to save itself from whiplash.

"What the hell what?" She recoiled as he suddenly stopped jolting her around, and flinched as a newspaper was shoved under her nose.

It wasn't the one Volkner had shown her, but she was there still. This time alone, her hair in a wavy beach hair mess as she leaned over a barrier she instantly recognised.

"Besanii!"

She stared wide eyed at him; "You don't think-"

"Yes I do!"

"Seriously?" She squealed, "you think I'm that easy? In fact, do you think Volkner is too?"

"I am what?"

Flint and Besanii spun around to see the frowning blonde in the doorway, now in a completely new outfit. The female redhead looked down shyly; "maybe staying here last night was a bad idea, I think we've given off the wrong impression..." She muttered, blood flushing to her cheeks and going as bright as her hair.

Volkner snatched at the newspaper; "Morning handsome?"

Flint snorted loudly, then curled up laughing. It only made Besanii worse, she flailed her arms; "No! I said that to RaiRai!" Flint roared in response, only to receive a weak slap. "It's not funny!" She shrieked.

"It is when you're not involved!" He cheered, howling some more.

She suddenly stopped panicking and started glaring, she may have been barely half his size, weight and height, but he sobered quickly at her menacing look. "It _is_ your fault." She seethed; "none of this would have happened if you hadn't set us up!"

It was now Volkner's turn to glare; "I have a reputation to keep."

Besanii nodded; "Me too! It'll ruin my career!"

"Hold on! You can't seriously be blaming me for this!" Flint held his hands in surrender as Besanii advanced on him. "I didn't ask you to stop here."

She growled; "if you don't sort something out, Flint, I swear I will rip your big stupid afro out BY MY TEETH!" She had gone from a low, quiet but threatening growl, gradually to a loud shriek so high pitched it made him flinch.

"HEY!" He roared; "Don't mess with the 'fro!"

She bared her teeth, almost ready to pounce. Being the bigger brother, and having been in this kind of argument many times, he knew when to back out. It would only end in tears, and he knew they would not be hers. "Okay okay! Give me time to think!"

"I'm going to sunbathe." She snapped; "I want a solution before I get a tan line!" She stormed off into the arena again, heading towards Volkner's private beach, knowing he wouldn't mind because it was out of bounds for the paparazzi.

Volkner, who had been wise and stayed silent as Besanii fumed, suddenly exhaled; "Wow. Feisty."

"You're telling me." Flint chuckled nervously, following his closest friend through the arena and into the living room. "She's not always like it, she's just passionate about coordinating."

The gym leader slumped into a seat, rubbing his still aching joints that still shuddered from the electricity that had coursed through him. "I don't get it. Why do they get judged on how a pokemon looks?"

"It's not just how they look," Flint sighed; "Besanii doesn't have all cute pokemon, but she makes them move in ways that make even me want to join coordinating."

Volkner snorted; "You're such a girl."

"You should watch her." The elite replied, choosing to ignore his comment; "you'd be surprised how powerful she actually is."

They stayed quiet a little while, until Volkner finally grunted; "so what are you going to do?"

Flint shrugged, "What _can_ you do? The more I say the more they'll twist it."

"It's your hair." Volkner chuckled darkly, leaving Flint to shakily run his fingers through his tight red curls.


	4. Robot

"Either you've come with a solution, or that drink is for me and you've come to grovel." She warned, causing Flint to jump as he thought she had her eyes closed behind her sunglasses. She smirked as he held out her favourite juice. "No ice."

"I thought you didn't like ice!" He exclaimed, causing her to grin. "In this heat? Of course I like it!" She laughed, placing a finger and thumb to her lips and blowing quickly to make a loud whistle. "Swampert! I need your help!" She shouted, and her water pokemon bounded out of the sea and right next to her. "Can I have some ice please?"

It nodded happily, and blew gently towards her glass, the juice itself began to freeze in places, creating a mixture of ice shards and juice mixed into one.

"Thanks." She smiled, drinking it immediately, and waving towards the deck chair for Flint to sit. He patted Swampert's head while passing it, the large water type was lay next to Besanii's sun lounger. It rumbled its name appreciatively, then lowered its head to bask in the sun.

The elite member pursed his lips, judging the distance between him and Besanii. Once he was sure he would be able to get a headstart, should he need to run, he spoke. "I don't think you'll like my idea..."

"Why?" She rose an eyebrow noticably above her sunglasses. "What is it?"

He sighed; "what if you were to say you knew each other before?"

"No." She said quickly, without a second thought. "I'm not going to lie. One little white lie brings several questions, and several questions create more white lies, it'll go on just like that until one of us trips up and we make a fool of ourselves."

Flint flashed his white teeth in a toothy grin, proud that his little sister was so wise. "Then if you're not going to lie, what's your only other option?"

"To tell the truth..." She muttered, then smiled; "I'll tell them this was your idea!"

Flint face palmed as Besanii strutted into the gym. He scuttled after her, trying to stop her with other ideas; "maybe you could just not say anything! Or say you stopped with me? Maybe you're old friends..." he tried again, "They won't ask any questions about that, they never ask about you and me, right?"

She paused mid stride and turned slowly; "that's a good point."

"I'm full of them." Flint stuck his nose up childishly.

"They know you and I have known each other for years, and you've known Volkner even longer... Who's to know that we'd never met before?" Besanii clapped, running ahead to find the gym leader.

Flint sighed with relief, hurrying after her. By the time he'd reached them, Volkner was already agreeing. "You have a point, but we can't just go telling them that, they'll think we're trying to cover something up."

"Simple," The elite trainer; "we'll just spend today together and pretend like nothing's wrong, like we're three friends who've known each other forever."

"Flint, you're on fire!" Besanii squealed, punching him in the shoulder. He chortled nervously, rubbing the place she'd hit; "Well that's what I'm known for..."

She stopped smiling for a second, then giggled; "that pun wasn't intended."

Volkner rolled his eyes; "so we have to go out?"

"Come on Mister Anti-Social. We can just go for lunch-"

"And shopping."

"-and then some shopping-" Flint paused, realising what he'd just agreed to. "No Besanii."

"You've said it now!" She beamed, bouncing on the spot. "I'll be right back! I need to get changed!"

Flint facepalmed, while Volkner watched her run off and shook his head; "What have you gotten me into?"

"A trip to Hell, my friend. I am terribly, terribly sorry."

* * *

"So what do you think of this one?" She stepped out and twirled, ending in her strong signature pose, her feet slightly apart and turned in with her knees bent, and a two fingered salute whilst the other hand firmly held her small waist.

"It's fine, can we go now?" Flint said in his rarely used monotonous tone. She dropped the pose and pouted; "Fine isn't good enough! I have to look spectacular in the grand festival!"

"You do look spectacular! Can you just pick one so we can go eat?" Flint barked, standing up angrily now.

"We ate just an hour ago!" Besanii squealed, her fists digging into her hips.

Volkner rubbed at his temples; "No, we ate five hours ago, you've been shopping for five damned hours and not brought a single bloody thing!"

"Five hours?" She exclaimed, pulling out her phone and her eyes opening wide with shock. "Wow how time flies when you're having fun!"

"And drags when you're not." Flint snapped again. It wasn't like him, but having such a lively energetic life meant patience was not a thing he was used to using.

She turned back into the changing room, only to recieve two groans. "Quit being babies, I only have two outfits left!"

"Finally." Volkner grumbled.

It took her a few minutes to get into the penultimate outfit she would try on that day, but she stepped out confidently, beaming as a pair of jaws dropped.

"No." One said straight away.

"Why?" She dropped her pose again, only to have the other male agree with her; "It looks great."

"You are not wearing that out. Geez Besanii put some clothes on!"

Just as she was being pushed back into the changing room, she giggled; "Flint, stop being so protective of me, it's not that short."

She slapped his hands away from her shoulders and turned to look in the mirror. "Besides, Volkner likes it."

The dress was a simple red body-con dress where one sleeve hung off her shoulder, revealing her collar bone. On her legs, she fashioned black lace stockings, leaving only a little thigh bare between them and the dress. She had picked out black doll-like shoes which had bright red four inch stilleto heels. She pulled her hair up with both hands, and twisted to see her back. "I like it."

"Most men will too..." Flint grumbled; "I don't like it Besanii, you're not old enough!"

"I'm seventeen, Flint and you're not my mother!" She rolled her eyes, walking in to the changing room.

"Can you at least try your last dress on?" He begged, hoping it was something a little more modest.

"Nope, this is the one." She giggled; "Which means we can go as soon as I've paid... and got jewellery."

Another pair of groans rumbled through the shop, and Besanii's laugh echoed after them.

* * *

Glances were cast in their direction whichever way they went. She blushed under the constant watch, pulling her hair around to make sure she looked okay every so often.

"...And this kid had a really good Electivire, just like yours, Volk. He used Charge to make the Electivire power up its electric type attacks as well as speed it up due to motor drive."

Volkner grunted back at Flint, aware of the people listening in too. Still, he listened intently, ignoring the other chatter around him even as his name popped up in places.

Besanii pursed her lips, and focussed on something else too. Seeing as she had no need to listen to trainer's strategies, she looked into the shop windows instead, and eventually found a jewellery shop worth looking at. "Wow! Look at that!" She cried, interupting Flint mid sentence. The two males gathered behind her and leant over to see what she was looking at.

The bracelet she was pointing to was indeed glamourous. It was 12 carot gold, with a thin chain and a tiny heart shape for an adornment. The heart was encrusted with tiny red rubies, that glittered in the spotlight it was place under. "It's beautiful!"

She had to control herself from running in, and quickly strutted over to the counter. "How much for that ruby heart bracelet?"

"That would be 95,599 pokedollars, ma'am."

She pursed her lips, she would need to _win_ the grand festival before she could afford that. "Oh, well that's a shame."

"I'll take it." A hand came past her, along with a wallet, pulling out a card he would pay with. "My sister needs a good birthday present for her eighteenth, right?"

Her eyes lit up as she threw her arms around him; "Flint, you're the best!"

The shop assistant placed the sparkling bracelet into a tiny box, then placed that into a little gift bag. As he placed it on the counter, he also pulled out another box from under the drawer; "We also have a matching ring, if you would like?" He opened it up, and inside the silk cushions sat a beautiful gold and ruby ring. Her eyes sparkled with wonder, but she craned her neck in. "Maybe for my nineteenth." She laughed, recieving a relieved sigh from Flint as he placed the card into the chip-and-pin machine. He pressed in his security number, and it beeped with approval. The assistant smiled and held out the bag and reciept; "Pleasure to meet you all. Come again soon!"

Volkner was already skulking off, while Besanii kept her arm hooked with Flint as she hugged his tightly in appreciation.

"I hope this gets me off the hook for dropping you in it with the pap." Flint smirked, knowing exactly how to get around the girl. She nodded quickly; "Of course! I'm so happy!"

He chuckled, allowing her to cling to his limb around the town as she held out her hand to study the charm that dangled from her wrist.

"Does this mean we can go now?" Volkner mumbled, watching as she twisted her wrist to make the rubies reflect the light around.

"Of course not!" Besanii said in surprise; "I haven't any earrings!"

"Besanii!" Flint cried, lifting her up over his shoulder and running through the shopping centre. Volkner rolled his eyes, but smirked in amusement as he ran after them, her cries of protest causing quite a commotion as a gym leader, an elite member, and a top coordinator rushed through the mall.

* * *

"Now who said I couldn't cook?" The fiery red headed girl challenged, raising an eyebrow to the other redhead. He waved his hand quickly as he continued to scoff the food she'd placed in front of him, while Volkner nodded quietly and ate with far superior table manners to his old friend.

Besanii sat down at the end of the table, and dug into her own dish, taking note that Volkner was watching for her table manners too. She kept her eyes down as she picked up her cutlery, then after she'd eaten her first mouthful, she smiled and looked up; "pretty damn good if I do say so myself."

"It is, it is." Flint said quickly between mouthful and drinking a sip of his own wine. Seeing as he didn't like red wine, he had purposefully gone out to get his own bottle.

"Flint!" Besanii scolded, repulsed by the mashed up food she saw in his mouth. He smiled sheepishly, then put his head down a little to eat faster.

She coughed nervously, then seeing as her oldest friend would be incapable of making a conversation with her without putting her off her food, she turned to Volkner instead. "Do you have any gym battles tomorrow?"

"One," he said; "it's quite a quiet time now so many coordinators are arriving."

She nodded politely; "Why's that?"

He shrugged; "I think the coordinator's league is before the Sinnoh league, isn't it?"

"Yeah, a month or so between." She replied, not bothering to correct his mistake again. "But shouldn't that mean trainer's would rush her for last minute badges?"

Both of the males stopped and looked at her with an expression of shock. She blinked stupidly; "What?"

"Any trainer who is passionate about what they do will already have all eight badges by now." Flint said, as passionate as the trainers he described. "They wouldn't take a chance of having a last minute battle, in case they lose and have to train before they try again, and then are too late for this year's Sinnoh league."

Volkner nodded in agreement, a spark of passion dimly glowing in his eyes, but it was quick to splutter out. Besanii gulped nervously, looking back down at her food quickly; "I didn't think of it that way."

"So you left your contest to the last minute?" Volkner smirked, thinking he'd caught her out. Flint was already smiling as Besanii glared at the blonde; "as a matter of fact I only had to participate in five contests. I won every single one within six months. I've been travelling Sinnoh, taking photos of the scenery while I waited for the grand festival to arrive."

"I did tell you she was good." Flint coughed, keeping his head down to avoid Volkner's glare.

Besanii laughed; "you'll just have to wait and see, I could wipe your gym team any day."

"We'll see about that." Volkner challenged, holding out his wine glass. She looked at it and beamed, then gently clashed her own into it and drank with him.

* * *

"I feel about nine again." Besanii mused as she came out of the en suite and jumped on the bed. Now Flint had returned, they had ended up having to share the bed for the night. Flint chuckled; "why, are you still afraid of the dark?"

"No!" She threw a pillow at him, only to have it chucked straight back. "Besides, I wasn't afraid, I just wanted an excuse to sleep over at your house."

He laughed; "You missed me that much?"

"Of course I did. I still do." Her smile weakened, but it stayed there nonetheless. Flint sobered quickly and scooped her up into a bear hug; "Come here you soppy idiot."

"Can't. Breathe." She wheezed, trying to prize herself away, but struggling seeing as her feet weren't touching the floor.

He snorted and threw her onto the bed, then lay on it himself.

"Volkner doesn't mind me staying here, does he?" She asked quietly, as she curled up into a ball.

Flint rolled his eyes; "He won't say it, but he enjoys your company."

"Really?" She asked, not believing it was possible for a man like Volkner to enjoy company at all.

He nodded, "well he's a lot more talkative with you than me, now."

Besanii smiled, she knew that was because Volkner could never get a word in edgeways with Flint. She pondered over the way Volkner had looked at her in the clothes shop. Even with his usual bored expression, he had not managed to conceal the look of sudden lust when she'd stepped out in stockings and heels. Suddenly her smile was a smirk, she loved to tease.

"You like him don't you?" Flint suddenly said with realisation in his voice.

"What? No." She denied quickly, shock dripping through her tone.

"Yeah you do!"

"No I don't!" Besanii assured him; "Sure, he's good looking, and a gym leader, but... He's quiet, and always so unenthusiastic. They're not very amiable qualities. And they don't suit me at all."

Flint sighed; "he's not unenthusiastic all the time."

"I know, I know, he's going through a difficult time, but until that time is over, I'm not interested." She rolled over to end the conversation, but Flint persisted. "It's not like you to turn down a challenge."

She snorted; "Why is he challenging?"

"Because he has never been interested in getting a relationship. He's always been set in becoming a gym leader." Flint's eyes were glittering with amusement as she rolled onto her back with a frown on her face as she looked at him. "He's never had a girlfriend?"

"Several, but only because it was something to do." He coughed; "Not 'do' in _that _way."

"Wow." Besanii stared at the ceiling as she thought about that. "He really is a robot, isn't he?"

Flint chuckled, then muttered under his breath; "And so it begins."

* * *

**And so it begins, exactly. Haha, sorry for such a wait, I had written out half the chapter ages ago then it decided to delete itself. So I rewrote it today seeing as I wasn't feeling writing my Ikari fighting action. ^^**


	5. The Bromance

"Raiii..."

"That bad huh?" She muttered as her eyes opened to see her pretty, smaller than average electric type. It smirked and nodded, its eyes fixed onto her hair. She sat up, realising Flint was next to her, then ran into the bathroom before he could make fun of the mess on her head.

The elite's eyes opened slowly, groggy from being awoken by the slam of the door. RaiRai stood on all fours in front of him and beamed, its tail flicking happily like a whip.

"Good morning RaiRai." He murmured, sitting up and running his hand through his hair that somehow managed to stay in tidy afro curls. "Besanii?" He rose his voice slightly so it would reach through the door.

"Yeah." She replied through gritted teeth. He knew exactly what it meant; "Bad hair day?"

"Yup." She growled; "I think I might go get it cut."

"Why?" He asked, getting changed in the room as he knew she wouldn't be coming out of the bathroom any time soon. After a few minutes, she stepped out with wet hair, and picked up the blow dryer. "Because it needs cutting." She rolled her eyes. Flint childishly stuck his tongue out and dodged as she threw a brush at him. Taking it as his queue to leave, he scurried out of the room and down the stairs.

As always, Volkner was up and ready, his hair sticking up like he'd been electrocuted as usual. He sipped at a mug of coffee whilst reading the newspaper in content.

"Well?" Flint asked.

"Not one thing." The blond replied monotonously; "Which means your hair will stay on your head."

Relieved, Flint collapsed onto the chair opposite his friend and thanked the machine that offered him coffee too. After a while of silence as he allowed the caffeine to kick in, he finally smiled brightly; "So only one battle today?"

"Yeah, shouldn't be too hard if it's taken her this long to get to me." Being the toughest Gym Leader meant very little challengers arrived, but the pay was a lot more when he beat the toughest challengers around. The problem was, he hadn't had a good battle in what seemed like decades.

"You underestimate your fellow gym leaders, Volk."

He shrugged back; "It's better to be surprised when you underestimate someone then be disappointed after you've overestimate, is it not?"

Flint's eyes narrowed; "Since when were you so wise?"

Volkner rolled his eyes and pulled the paper in front of his face; "I've always been wise, you've just never listened."

The red head snorted; "I think the fact that my title is elite and yours is gym leader says it all, doesn't it?"

The paper slapped down to the table as Volkner's passion for battling flared; "You know I could beat you any day."

"That's what they all say, and yet I remain Elite." Flint retorted, thrilled by the rush of emotion his friend was showing. Rivalry had always been something they thrived from, and it's what kept them friends for so many years.

"I'm going out!" A female voice called through the room, and the electric doors could be heard closing. Volkner looked to his friend and shrugged, while Flint smirked and looked to the bowl in front of him.

* * *

"What do you think, RaiRai, black, or purple?" She held two snippets of hair that had been tested for the end result, and couldn't deside what colour to go.

RaiRai didn't know either, being a pokemon, so in desperation, she turned to her hairdresser. "I don't know!"

The man grinned, placing his hands into her hair and scrunching it slightly; "Well is it for a special occasion?"

"Not really, I'll have to get it coloured again before the Grand Festival." She pouted.

"Then I'd go with purple, you can always go black next time." The man closed his eyes and pointed one finger; "Though I think black would look really sophisticated for the grand festival, purple would be fun for the mean time."

Besanii nodded, seeing his logic; "And black would go with my dress, too."

Relieved to hear an answer, the man set to work. Besanii grinned up to the ceiling at the thought of Flint's reaction.

* * *

"Sandslash is unable to battle. Victory goes to the Gym Leader, Volkner!" Flint waved one flag to his friend.

The young girl sighed as she returned her final pokemon, and Volkner did too with his Luxray, who had delivered the final blow with an ice fang.

"You should have known I would have a counter for ground types. Come back when you think you're ready." Volkner droned, waving his hand and exiting the arena, leaving Flint to deal with the young, now crying girl.

"Don't be down-hearted." Flint smiled, lifting her face to look at him by her chin. She sniffed as her eyes met his. "You had a real good technique coming along with your Lopunny."

The girl forced a weak smile, wiping her eyes and taking a step back; "thank you, Lopunny was my first pokemon."

"You can tell, you have a close bond with her." Flint nodded; "You should work on that sort of bond with your other pokemon, you'll be in better sync with them, then."

"Okay! Thanks sir! It was an honour to meet you!" She skipped back slightly, determination sparking in her eyes as she turned to run out of the gym.

"You too." Flint called after her, chuckling as he walked after Volkner. He found him treating his pokemon, his Jolteon and Raichu still recovering from unconsciousness.

"That was a good battle." Flint commented, taking a potion to heal a scratch wound Luxray had received. Volkner grunted; "It was alright."

"Alright? She was a good trainer! She doesn't have all that much confidence as it is without you destroying what little self esteem she has." Flint ranted.

The blond glared; "A trainer is supposed to influence their pokemon, if she can't be confident in her pokemon's abilities then she shouldn't battle!"

"Coming from somebody who's completely apathetic towards anything, including his own pokemon." The Elite raised his voice, irritated by his friend's beliefs.

"So it's my fault she lost?"

"No. All I'm saying is that as a gym leader, you are a role model. Young novices want to be you, and you're not setting the best example." The redhead flung his hands up and turned to leave, but Volkner was already retorting; "I haven't received any complaints from the trainers."

"That's because they're too frightened of you, not to mention they have a heart." Flint snapped, stalking out the room. Volkner followed after him; "I've had quite enough of this 'heartless' insult. Just because I don't wear my heart on my sleeve like every other moron who comes in here, doesn't mean I feel nothing."

"It's not healthy, Volk! The only laughter I've heard from you in years are sarcastic!"

He didn't reply, merely turned his head and walked for the balcony. "We're not having this conversation, again."

"When are you going to be your old self again? I don't want to be friends with this sad, lonely man anymore." Flint asked, standing beside Volkner, both of them staring out to the sea. They stayed silent as they reminisced.

"Oookaayyy, I'm guessing you were having a bromance..."

They both turned suddenly to see a girl frowning at them.

"Besanii?" Flint's eyes widened at her new look, the difference was unbelievable. Instead of her red, straight locks, it hung in big purple curls, shining as the sun hit it.

"Do you like it?" She asked, pulling a finger through one of the ringlets.

"How did you get in my house?" Volkner suddenly asked, leaning against the balcony's fence. Besanii grinned; "Your machine let me in. I told it to."

Flint chuckled, turning his back on them as he stared out to the beach.

"So how did your battle go?" She feigned curiosity, to make conversation as Volkner stared blankly in surprise. "I won it." He snapped out of thought, sitting down at the garden table.

"Good." She smiled, sitting opposite him, then handing him an envelope. "This was on the floor, along with one for Flint too." She handed a second envelope to her oldest friend. They both opened their own at the same time, Volkner reading it faster than Flint, groaning. "I'm not going." He finalized as he chucked the letter to the table. Besanii picked it up and began scanning just as Flint finished; "Oh yes you are. Do you realise what an opportunity this is for you?"

_Dear Volkner,  
On behalf of our beloved Bertha, we would like to arrange a party for her 65th birthday, along with a special announcement. It would be most kind of you to join us on the third Saturday of this month. Please find your invitation enclosed within the envelope.  
__Yours,  
Cynthia. _

By the time she'd finished reading it, Flint and Volkner were bickering like school children until eventually she shouted; "Hey!"

The two glared at her, but she did not recoil, but simply jutted her chin out stubbornly; "Let Volkner do what he wants, if he wants to be antisocial then who are you to stop him?"

"His best frie-"

Volkner interrupted; "This isn't about my social skills, I just don't want to go."

Besanii nodded, "You don't have to be ashamed, you shouldn't go if it'll make you feel awkward."

Flint was suddenly smirking behind the man in question, watching as he boiled over in annoyance. "Fine. If it proves a point, I'll go. But don't think I'll be happy and merrily drunk."

"That's the spirit." Flint chuckled as he slapped his friend on the back, then turned to wink at Besanii; "You'll be my plus one, right?"

"Of course, unless you find yourself some gorgeous date to take with you." Besanii beamed.

Flint bear hugged her; "How could I possibly find anyone more gorgeous than my little sister."

"Please, I feel nauseous." Volkner scowled.

The two chuckled as they pulled away from their hug, and Besanii perked a brow; "Nahh you're just jealous you won't have me in my red dress on your arm."

The blond flushed red, and Flint began roaring laughing, but suddenly sobered; "You're not going in that dress."

"What!" She whined; "Why?"

"It's too short, and this is a formal party, not a night club." Flint snapped; "You can go get a different dress."

"I'm not going shopping with her again." Volkner insisted.

"Fine. I'll go by myself. But Flint, seeing as you won't let me wear my dress, you can buy me a new one." She held out her hand, and it took a few moments for a stare down before Flint gave in and handed her his card. She snatched it up with a sarcastic; "Thaaaank you!" then hurried out of the building.

Volkner perked a brow as Flint warned him; "Don't you say a word."

He didn't, but it didn't stop him flicking his hand like he was holding a whip, along with his own sound effect. "Wttshhhh."

"I'm sorry for not wanting an earful." Flint stuck his nose up. "Besides, she plays you like a harp too."

"I'm aware." He muttered; "She's manipulative."

"She's a woman." Flint replied, taking a drink from the tray of Volkner's machine. Volkner took one too, and watched as the machine wheeled away. "And you wonder why I'm not interested in them."

"Au contraire mon frere."

"When did you meet to Fantina?" The Electic Trainer arched his eyebrow.

"Don't change the topic." Flint pressed, "I've seen the way you look at her."

Volkner folded his arms over his chest; "If I didn't look at her, that would be bad manners. She's a guest."

"You know what I mean."

"Yes, I do." The gym leader stood; "And you are sadly mistaken."

"I don't think I am. You can't away from the topic fast enough." Flint followed his friend into the house, smirking evilly.

The blond sighed; "That would be because it's embarrassing that you're completely wrong."

"Don't lie to me."

"What would you like to hear?" Volkner turned; "Would you like me to say I fell head over heels for her so you can feel great playing Cupid? I know what you're doing Flint and you're stupid."

Being the taller of the two, Flint smirked down at his old friend; "We'll see."

Exasperated, the blond spun on his heels and continued to walk.

"Would you like me to find a different date so you can ask her?" Flint called after him.

"No. Shut up, Flint. Or get out of my house."

The redhead chuckled to himself, turning to sit back on the balcony again; "You'll be sorry."

* * *

**Haha, so rather uneventful chapter, but I enjoyed writing it. It makes me feel a lot more lighthearted while I'm writing dark fighting scenes in my Ikarishipping. XD**

**Thanks to those who added my fic to your favourites! But please don't forget to review! I love to hear from you! :D**


	6. Spoilt Child

"Volkner?"

He didn't reply.

"Volkner?"

Silence.

She smirked and walked closer to him, standing beside him and nudging him slightly. It only earned a sigh.

"Pleeeeease?" She whined.

"No. You're not a challenger, and I'm not in the mood." He snapped.

"But Flint won't battle me, he says he'll overwhelm me, and I really need to practice!" She clasped her hands together, mock begging.

"He's right, and I will too."

Her hands quickly found her hips; "Who say's so?"

"I do."

"Well, a gym leader can't decline a gym battle, so I challenge you to one." She stuck her nose in the air triumphantly.

"Uh-oh." Flint had been watching the entire time, a straw in his mouth as he sucked an iced tea.

Meanwhile, Volkner glared in annoyance at the girl who had persisted. She met him with an even smile, as if there was no problem her at all. Giving in, the blond spun on his heels, mumbling something along the lines of "manipulative witch..."

She pretended to not hear, as she cast a victorious smile to Flint, who rolled his eyes. This, of course, had been her plan all along. She didn't really need somebody to battle her for contest practicing, she'd insisted on Volkner helping to show off, and hopefully break his winning streak.

"Just a one on one-"

"No. This is a gym battle, give me a proper one!" She insisted.

"Besanii, you are not qualified to battle me properly, you need all other badges-"

"Proper battle!" She squealed like a spoilt child. Flint chuckled as he took his place on the referee podium, Volkner made his way to the grander podium, whilst Besanii was already waiting on her plain one.

"This will be a three on three gym battle, the winner is decided when the other three pokemon on the opposing team are unable to battle. Only the challenger is allowed to make substitutions. This is a no time-limit match." Flint recited with practiced ease. He raised two flags, one green, one red; "And, release your first pokemon."

Besanii was aware of Volkner's team, but she also knew he'd have a back up plan for the most obvious of pokemon choices, namely ground types. Still, her Swampert was ready to battle, but she would save it for back up. Instead, she grinned as she pulled out her pokemon choice; "Medicham! Let's go!"

Volkner nodded, then threw his own pokeball, the light shaping into a small pokemon; a jolteon. Which meant this was going to be a fast battle. She would have to be on her toes if her slower Medicham was going to defend itself in time.

"And begin!"

Despite Volkner's usual gentlemanly nature, today he was impatient, he wanted this fight over and done with as quickly as possible. He pointed forward as he shouted; "Shadow Ball!"

Besanii smiled, she'd expected that move from an Eevee evolution, having one herself. She was already calling her repsonse before Jolteon had finished charging it. "Kick it back with Hi Jump Kick!" Medicham began running as Jolteon fired, it jumped, spinning to face away from the attack, its leg still swinging around to connect with the shadow ball and booted it into the floor right where Jolteon had stood before it dodged.

"Now! Meditate!" She smiled. She was going to make full use of a move she couldn't use in contests, but first she needed to boost Medicham's stats.

"Quick attack, Jolteon!"

The normal type move landed with Medicham distracted, and it threw the psychic type back through the air. It landed on its hands, flipping further backwards to land on its feet and take it's fighting stance.

"Now Thunder shock." He commanded immediately, a master of making quick, sharp decisions. No wonder he was so good, nobody could get an attack in when he was so fast at switching between offence and defence.

"Psychic!" Besanii said cooly, though inside she was squirming, unable to find the right opportunity to attack. Medicham nodded, placing its palms forward and completely blocking the electric type attack. "Another Meditate." She saw Flint give her a look, knowing this wasn't her usual fighting technique at all.

"We're not getting through with special attack..." Volkner muttered. "Dig!"

She smirked; "Now let's try our Baton Pass!"

Just as Jolteon appeared under Medicham's feet, the psychic type vanished into a red glow, leaving a small part of the light behind as it disappeared into the ball.

Besanii grinned; "And now for Weavile!" She threw the pokeball, Weavile appearing in midair, twirling to catch the red glowing 'baton' as it landed. The baton formed a glow around the pokemon, dulling down to nothing seconds later like it had sank into the dark type's fur.

"Now we can match your speed." She tilted her nose up snootily, rather proud of herself. Before Volkner could retort, she was already ordering her first attack. "Brick Break!"

"Jolteon, use Thunder Fang!"

Weavile got there first with blinding speed, crashing the side of its hard bone claw onto the lightning pokemon. Without a fight, Jolteon collapsed back, unconscious.

"What the-"

"Jolteon is unable to battle, the first victory goes to Besanii." Flint winked at her, realising what she'd done. She turned back to Volkner, his jaw slack with shock. She giggled; "Baton Pass gives the next pokemon any stat changes Medicham had, and with Medicham's ability; pure power, that upped it even more. Now my Weavile doesn't have bad attack stats as it is, but your Jolteon didn't stand a chance with poor physical defence-"

"Stop being a nerd Besanii!" Flint butted in.

"Shut up Flint!" She stuck her tongue out, then turned to Volkner and swished her hand into a fancy bow; "Ladies first!"

The blond rolled his eyes, releasing his next pokemon; "Maybe you'll approve of my Electivire's defence, then." The large pokemon grinned, it's fists crackling with visible electricity.

Her Weavile glanced back to Besanii, who gave it a reassuring nod.

"Let's show them _our_ brick break!" Volkner called, and his pokemon began sprinting surprisingly fast for such a bulky pokemon. Knowing this would be devastating on her dark type, she had to think quick. "Protect!"

The two collided, Electivire's thick arms crashing into the green shield-like dome. Weavile grunted as it was shoved backwards, but it didn't break.

"Ice punch at the ready!" Besanii commanded, pulling her hands into fists excitedly. The ice type grumbled as it took its claws away from the barrier and jumped out of the way for Electivire's fists to fit the floor. With super fast reflexes, Weavile turned the jump to its advantage, using gravity to worsen the punch. Electivire couldn't react in time, and so instead took the hit.

"Use thunder while it's touching you!" Volkner called, and Weavile shreaked as volts coursed through its body and was flung across the room in agony, electricity sparkling around it. Still, it weakly stood up, wincing as its joints clicked.

"Come on Weavile! Brick Break!"

"You too Electivire!"

The attacks collided, both recieving enourmous amounts of damage, but Electivire straightened out after a few moments pause, Weavile didn't put up a fight against unconsciousness.

"Weavile is unable to battle, the second victory goes to Gym Leader Volkner." Flint grinned, shaking with anticipation.

Besanii growled, releasing her Medicham again. "Meditiate is out of play now..." She muttered to herself; "I'm going to have to play it safe."

"Thunder!"

She smirked; "That again? Psychic again."

"Run with it Electivire!"

She blinked in shock as Medicham was currently preoccupied, Electivire ran forward, ready for physical attacks. As soon as it was close enough, Volkner began ordering again; "Brick Break."

"Dodge, Medicham!"

The pokemon did as she told it, gliding past Electivire's attempts with grace and poise. The electric type grew frustrated quickly, and sped up its assault.

"Now, hi jump kick!"

As Medicham had just finished backflipping away from Electivire, it lashed a leg forward as the other powerfully jumped off the floor, crashing into Electivire's body and sending it backwards.

"And psychic!" She reeled off another attack, Medicham obeying quickly while they had the chance.

"Thunder, stop that psychic!"

Though Electivire couldn't physically move, the electricity still charged, and slammed straight into Medicham, who dropped the electric type in surprise. Volkner threw a hand quickly; "Giga Impact!"

The gym leader's pokemon landed in a crouch, which set it's speed off even faster, and a glowing white trail was left in its wake while a dome of air formed around it from the pressure of the oncoming attack. Besanii was helpless as she watched her pokemon be knocked out.

"Medicham is unable to battle, the third round goes to Volkner." Flint called as Besanii returned her pokemon. Just as she'd planned before, she released Swampert, her back up plan. Flint smiled, knowing she would have used that pokemon.

Volkner smirked, impressed. His counter ground types, he knew, was now useless. Ice wouldn't work against a part water type, and Electivire didn't have a grass type move. Still, he had moves that could work. "Start off with brick break!"

Besanii smiled, she wasn't about to let that land. "Earthquake!"

He'd expected that; "Jump, Electivire!"

So had she; "Straight into surf! Beat him there!"

A glint in Swampert's eye flashed across the room as it focused on Electivire leaping away from the cracks in the earth rushing toward it. The water pokemon suddenly charged forward, the leapt up, water rushing behind it, propelling it forward, then as it hit the floor, it spread into a huge tidal wave. It easily reached higher than Electivire's jump, engulfing it into it's large waves. As the two pokemon crashed down to the floor, Swampert sliding with the water beneath it, they awaited orders as the water subsided.

"Ice beam!" She called, and her water type spent little time as it charged a strong ice beam and freezing all the water on the floor, sealing Electivire as it did. She gasped; "That's beautiful." She realised, it had only been an accident. She memorized it as she called for her following move. "Earthquake!"

With nowhere to run, Electivire could only wait for the ground to crack underneath it and inevitably KO.

"Electivire is unable, the fourth round goes to the challenger, Besanii!" Flint was on edge by now, this was the final battle.

Volkner smirked; "Don't you think I'd have a back up for your Swampert?"

Besanii pursed her lips; "No actually, I didn't know they were common."

An Octillery appeared, to her surprise. She perked a brow; "I thought you were an electric type trainer?"

Flint chuckled; "Octillery has electric type moves. Like my Drifblim has Will-o-wisp."

She nodded, suddenly nervous, so this Octillery had something up it's sleeve that could trump Swampert. None of her attacks would be particularly strong now, she would just have to rely on sheer skill.

"Earthquake, then stone edge!" She said quickly, and whilst the earthquake missed, the shards from it's aftermath glowed with a blue aura, shooting towards Octillery and landing on target.

"Bullet seed!"

There it was. She smirked, surely he'd have known she would have a back up too. "Dodge with surf, then use ice beam!"

"Aurora beam! Then Octazooka!"

The two ice type attacks collided, and as Swampert came down to finish it's combination, Octillery squirted a mass of ink at its face, landing right on target, blinding it temporarily.

"Now use bullet seed!"

"Earthquake straight down, Swampert!" She had to guide her pokemon if she were to win. It trusted her completely, and rocks flew up like a shield, not only that, but the floor rippled and shook Octillery, ceasing it's offence.

"Now, surf straight forward, and get clean!" Besanii yelled, ensuring her pokemon knew exactly what to do without having to see it. It nodded, shooting straight for the shaken Octillery, and landing the final blow.

"Octillery is unable to battle! Which means the challenger is the winner!" Flint picked up the red flag to confirm the victory, as Volkner stood in shock.

Besanii squealed with delight, only to find her wet Swampert tackle her to the floor. "Good boy!" She chanted over and over, scratching his neck with both hands. He wrapped his thick arms around her and lifted her onto his shoulder, before turning to Flint who had walked over.

"Well done, wasn't expecting that."

She winked; "I'll be thrashing your ass next."

"I wouldn't go that far..." He chuckled as Volkner approached. The redhead looked to him; "Well are you going to give her a badge?"

He scoffed; "no. I told her she wasn't qualified."

"But she still managed to defeat you!" Flint raised his voice, but Besanii patted him; "It's alright, I knew it wasn't a proper gym battle. Don't want a badge anyway, it would look odd with my ribbons, in fact I don't even think it'd fit. I have so many now-"

Flint knew that when she was rambling, it meant she was covering something up. In this case, she was disappointed. Knowing he had no right to question Volkner's actions, he turned back to her; "Well we should at least go celebrate. How about a meal?"

"You spoil me." She giggled; "But sure!" She slipped off her pokemon and returned it, promising a day relaxing at the beach tomorrow. She turned to leave, but noticed the exchanging looks between the two males. "Volkner, are you coming too?"

"Nahh, he has stuff to do." Flint said through gritted teeth and a fake smile. "Just you and me, okay?"

"Oh, okay!" She grinned; "I'll see you later Volkner, thanks for the battle!"

He didn't reply, or at least she didn't hear it. Flint placed an arm around her shoulder and noticeably relaxed once out of the gym.

"So where would you like to go?" He asked, waving a hand towards the town; "The world is your oyster." He paused; "Well, Sunyshore is."

She giggled, but stopped quickly as his pager began bleeping. They both groaned together as he took a look at it.

"I've got to take this." He said, giving her adeeply apologetic look.

She forced I smile; "Of course you do, go on." Knowing he would have to be leaving, she didn't bother looking for a restaurant. Instead, she found a food stand and brought a hot dog. He returned to find her holding one out for him too. He smiled sheepishly; "I'm so sorry sis."

"You gotta do what you gotta do." She shrugged.

He pursed his lips, giving her a strange look.

"What?" She asked.

"I've got to stay at the league, until the party. We have to organise it." He cringed.

She smiled; "Well that's okay, I was planning on going to the pokemon center anyway."

"What for?"

She shrugged; "It's clear Volkner doesn't want me around, and I think I might have annoyed him today."

"I wouldn't say annoyed..."

She spun, as it wasn't Flint who had said that. The blond haired gym leader smirked over her, rolling his eyes as he looked past her.

"So you... You don't mind me being around?" She blinked stupidly.

He shrugged carelessly; "You're entertaining to say the least."

A smile taunted her lips as she fought it back, but it was a losing battle.

"Besides, why would I want my old friend to leave?" He said rather clearly, earning a raised eyebrow from both Flint and Besanii.

"Oh..." Her eyes flickered to behind him, realising a man was listening in, inconspicuously. Volkner awkwardly placed an arm around her shoulder and began walking her back to the gym; "Well, we'll see you at the party then."

Flint smiled, playing along; "Yes, you better come."

"I'll make sure we're there." Besanii nodded. She relaxed into Volkner's arm as they passed the suspicious man. Her thoughts trailed off to the last time they'd encountered somebody watching them, and she knew she felt safe now.

"Look after her Volk, you know what they're like here." Flint said pointedly toward the man who narrowed his eyes slightly as he took the hint.

"Sure Flint."

"What are you on about? I kicked your ass, it's me who should be looking after you!" She laughed, earning a roar from Flint.

They arrived, at the harbour, and a boat was already waiting to rush Flint to the pokemon league. He bear-hugged Besanii and something similar but more manyly to Volkner, then waved as he disappeared along the sea.

"Did you really mean what you said?" She asked, looking the blond straight in the eye. He rolled them before looking back to her; "yeah sure, why not..."

And although it didn't sound convincing, she knew it was genuine. Volkner wasn't the sort of person to lie to make her feel better. She smiled as he wandered off toward his gym again, knowing she would be quick to follow.

* * *

**Haha, I wasn't really expecting to write a battle chapter, I was just in a battle mood. I also wasn't planning on Besanii winning, but then I thought it would be funny. **

**I'd like to ask you all a favour, there's a poll on my bio, and I would be most grateful if you could take two minutes just to say what you feel about my writing, I'm learning many things I can improve on. ^^**


	7. The Moment

**I wanted to write more so I did. XD**

* * *

"RaiRai!" She squealed, her hands flailing frantically as a pot of kirby grips was thrown across the floor. The little Raichu sighed, it had been sprawled along the bed, watching her fail at doing her hair. It lazily slipped off the bed, and using it's static ability, it attracted the metal clips to it's tail with ease.

"I can't do my hair and we have to leave in like... Like... I don't even know!" She ranted. "That's it, I'm leaving it down. I don't even know these people anyway."

"Raii..." It grumbled, dropping the grips into the pot again.

"Quit complaining, you always look good." She muttered to her little electric type. It rolled its eyes at her, but she ignored it and turned back to the mirror. She readjusted her hair to fall over one shoulder in large ringlets. She scuttled into the bathroom and got dressed quickly, and snatched up her purse.

"Right come on." She said to RaiRai. "Oh and get that shopping bag, I have a feeling we'll need it."

She hurried down the stairs, her shoes held in her hands. She hurried into the front room, where Volkner had been waiting.

"Well?" She asked, nervous to be wearing this sort of dress for the first time. He looked up from his glare to the floor as he moped about having to go to this party. With her hair purple now, she had gone with a deep purple dress to match. It was a plain scoop neck with a low back, the straps draping into a loop at the small of her back. The skirt brushed the floor without her shoes on, and a slit in the side showed her leg to just past her knee. She'd put silver jewellery on, her usual contest set.

Volkner coughed quickly, then nodded once. His throat had gone dry as she changed her weight to her other foot.

Her face dropped; "You're not seriously wearing that?"

"You've never complained about my clothes before." He grunted.

"No but that's because you look fine during a normal day, but this is a formal do, you gotta dress the part!" She placed her hand on her hip; "And considering I'm walking in with you now, you need to look good!"

RaiRai wandered closer, waving it's tail in Volkner's face, a shopping bag hanging onto the lightning bolt shaped tip. He took it and looked in; "You came prepared." He grunted, pulling out a slate grey shirt and comfortable looking black trousers which looked casual and smart.

"Yeah well I may have only known you a week or so, but I already know what you're like. Go get dressed." She nodded her head toward the bathroom, and he smirked at her. As he walked in, he called behind him; "fetch me some cufflinks from my room."

She glared into the back of his head; "Please is a nice word."

He turned as he got into the bathroom, holding the door; "Please." He teased, before closing the door.

"Jerk." She insulted playfully, before dropping her shoes and running up the stairs gracefully.

"And shoes. _Please_!" He yelled after her.

She'd never been into his room before, she'd seen him exit it in the morning, but she'd never had a reason to go in herself. She pushed the door open, expecting a room similarly decorated to her own, and she wasn't surprised to see the metallic, clean look every room in the house had. This was, afterall, his home. The desk was cluttered with computer wires and files full of documents, his bed had been neatly made by the machines. There was a wall with three shelves covered in books, all brilliant classics, and all had clearly been read endlessly by the look of their condition.

"Raiii..." RaiRai nudged her, reminding her what she was supposed to be doing, and she nodded. The wardrobe was walk in, full of prominently blues, yellows and blacks. She laughed silently, wondering whether uniform was a must have for gym leaders, or Volkner just didn't like any other colour.

"Cufflinks, cufflinks, cufflinks." She chanted, spotting a table covered in gift boxes that had clearly never been opened. She began to do so anyway, a collection of old badge designs, rings and all sorts in tiny velvet cases. There were a few sets of cufflinks, which were set aside for her to compare once she found them all.

"Must sort these out for him tomorrow." If there's one thing she couldn't stand, it was unorganised jewellery.

Finally, she came across a pair which were perfect. They had obviously never come out of the box, and had been chucked to the back of the table, never to be seen again.

"And shoes." She muttered to herself, looking to see a row of shoes neatly lined up. Her eyes immediately fell to a pair of military boots and she fell in love straight away. "_I_ want them!" She didn't care if they were for the opposite gender, they were awesome. She picked them up, knowing they were the ones, and trotted back down the stairs to find he was on his way up to see what was taking her so long. She grinned and forced the boots in his face, and he frowned; "I haven't worn these since I was travelling!"

"They're smart, and casual. You'll look amazing, trust me." She winked, delighted that he just sat down on the stairs and put them on without a second thought. It was probably because he didn't care what he wore, but she instead told herself that he obviously trusted her. It made her smile.

"And I found you these cufflinks, I thought they would show a little of your personality now you're not wearing your usual blue and yellow." She hinted, holding out the box. He looked at them and snorted; "Flint brought me these a few years ago for my birthday." They were silver lightning bolt shapes, and he could see what Besanii meant about bringing through a little personality to the monotonous outfit. He stood up and turned to her; "Happy now?"

She nodded, taking his collar and straightening it out as she looked over him. She was good at shopping even when it wasn't for herself. She applauded herself on this one. His trousers weren't too formal for him to look like he was forced into it, quite tight fitting to his long legs and ruffled just where they tucked into his old boots. The boots were worn looking, but it made them look retro and loved. The shirt looked nice, but still looked a little too formal to match the rest, so she moved the collar around to make it look a little less perfect, prim and proper. She hadn't noticed as she did so, he'd been watching her, smirking slightly.

She looked up only a little to find his face and paused, had she gotten too close? They weren't _really_ close friends, she couldn't get away with being so familiar with him like she was Flint. It was merely her bossy nature that made her fix it, but sometimes she knew she could accidentally step out of line. She finished with the collar, and yet her fingers dragged slightly; "I er... Got you a jumper too. It's in the bag." She patted his shoulder to make it look less awkward. It didn't stop the tension though, he held his breath as she blinked furiously at the floor.

He nodded; "Thanks."

"No problem." She frowned as he turned his back on her to retrieve the even lighter grey jumper, wondering what had just happened between them.

* * *

"So how are we getting there?" She asked, as the cab pulled off from the gym.

"Flint organised a boat to pick us up." He looked to her, and noticed her grimace; "Is that okay?"

She groaned; "I get sea sick."

He smirked; "Well we could fly..."

"And mess up my hair? No thanks." She interrupted him.

"Quit complaining then."

She glared, but said nothing. He shook his head and smirked out of the car window, silent for the rest of the ride.

* * *

"I guess it wasn't that bad..." She muttered, straightening out her dress as they came to the front of the league. Her eyes wandered over the magnificent building, surrounded by masses of vibrant flowers. "You would have thought this place would be more intimidating."

Volkner snorted; "Yeah, it's a little too welcoming."

She nodded in agreement, surely it should put the challengers off, make them second think themselves so only the bravest and strongest would enter. Still, she admired the vast fields, being a coordinator, it was in her nature to appreciate aesthetics.

"...Besanii?"

"Hmm..." She dragged her eyes away, and noticed Volkner was offering his arm. She smirked and wrapped her hand elegantly under his. "Told you that you'd want me on your arm."

"Careful, your head won't fit through the door." He teased, nudging her slightly.

"Good thing there's double doors for the both of us then." She retorted, stumping him completely.

The doors slid open automatically, and a woman in a navy skirt suit and light pink shirt bowed to them. "Sunyshore gym leader, Volkner and guest."

"Well I'm-" Besanii was about to correct her, but Volkner stopped her by replying himself; "Yes. Is it in the main hall?"

"It is, may I show you the way?" The woman asked politely, but Volkner shook his head; "I know where to go."

"Thank you." Besanii added, flashing a smile to the kind woman, then flashing a glare at Volkner. He paid no attention, and led her past the woman, down a corridor. "I'm Flint's guest, in case you forgot."

"Yes, but that would start a conversation with the woman, a conversation I didn't really want to have." He said cooly, turning a corner down the monotonous hallways.

She sighed; "the inside is a bit of a let down..." She thought of the grand exterior, which dulled in her mind now the interior was plain and boring.

"Wait until you get into the main room." He warned her, knowing how she would react as they came to the door.

Her eyes widened as two men opened the doors for them, revealing a huge, high-ceilinged room with a magnificent glass chandelier refracting light around. The room had been decorated tastefully in creams and golds, right down to the napkins on the table and the seat covers. Her jaw was slightly slack as she took it all in, and suddenly she felt as if she should have done her hair better. At the end of the room, an empty space had been allocated for dancing in the evening, and a stage framed one side of it as a group of men and women readied their string instruments. Even their music stands were decorated with golden sashes, a collection of small cream flowers bunching the sash in the middle.

A large table in the middle of the room stood proudly holding a large tiered cake, still fitting to the colour scheme. Tiny cream icing flowers decorated the edges, and a boquet of them domed on the top tier. Men in sharp navy suits carried gold trays with crystallised glasses full of a golden sparkling substance.

There were people gathered around the room in groups, all very important, as she knew. Some of them, she recognised, were foreign gym leaders, so this was a worldwide gathering. The announcement must have been important.

"Close your mouth, people are looking." Volkner breathed as he nodded to his fellow gym leader, Roark.

Besanii pursed her lips, glancing around the room. A few people had looked over, mainly with surprised looks on their faces.

"I don't usually show my face to these sort of events." He muttered to her. She looked to him and smiled, knowing people were still watching. "Well look what you were missing."

"Mmmm..." His eyes zeroed in on the big red afro dancing about in the middle of a group of people as the sound of Flint's booming laugh echoed straight to them.

"Shall we go say hello?" She suggested, only to see Volkner inwardly cringe. "No, he can find us later, let's got get a drink."

She cast a glance back in Flint's direction, but didn't have much choice as her escort practically dragged her away.

"Madam." A tray came into her face, and she had to crane her neck back to see it properly. Champagne. She took one politely, but grimaced inwardly, knowing she wouldn't enjoy the vile tasting liquid. "Sir." The waiter moved the tray to aim at Volkner, who nodded and took one too. He then disappeared to serve someone else.

"Ahh, Volkner."

Both he and Besanii turned to the airy female voice. The latter inhaled in awe as she stood face to face with the first female pokemon champion, Cynthia. She was stunningly beautiful, dressed in a black sparkling coctail dress, contrasting with her milky skin and light blonde hair that was cascading down her back in loose waves. She smiled serenely as she held her hand out; "I'm so glad you decided to come."

"So am I." Volkner took her hand and kissed her cheek formally, then pulled away for the chit chat. He slightly turned toward Besanii and gestured to her; "This is Besanii."

"I know who she is, of course. I am a fan of hers." Cynthia held out her hand, to which Besanii took automatically, her eyes wide. "You're a-a fan of mine?"

"Of course, you were remarkable in the Canalave contest, I watched you from then on. I wish you the best of luck in the grand festival." She gently let go of her hand, but Besanii's hand lingered, still in shock. "I-urr-I'm so honoured, thank you!"

Cynthia laughed lightly, obviously used to people stammering in her presense. Her attention turned to Volkner; "How's the gym?"

"Good thank you, quiet at the moment." He said politely, though it was clear he was going to tire of this subject by the end of the night.

"Yes well, it's that time of year. Most gym leaders love it, but you're a workaholic." She laughed, and the other two joined in. Once they'd sobered, she took a step back; "Well I have to speak to Morty who's just arrived. It was lovely meeting you."

"You too." Besanii beamed, overwhelmed with excitement. The pokemon champion was a fan of hers. However, it dawned on her that Morty had arrived. She spun on her heels to see him, the kind hearted ghost type gym leader with a beautiful girl on his arm.

"Sarvani!" She squealed, she would have ran if it had been acceptable to in long dresses and heels, but instead she settled for a quick walk. The younger girl's beautiful brown eyes zoned in on the person who called her, and her face lit up even more than it already was; "Besanii!"

As elegant as is possible, they tackled each other into a hug, barely saying anything but just giggling.

"It's so good to see you!" Besanii grinned; "You look amazing!"

Sarvani swirled her dress cutely; "thank you." She said shyly, then turned the attention elsewhere; "This is Morty."

He nodded beside her as he held a hand out; "I've heard a lot about you, Besanii."

"And I have heard much about you too." She rose an eyebrow, giving a slight glare to her best friend. Still she shook hands with the ghost type gym leader, who was looking over her shoulder. "Volkner, it's been too long!"

Besanii stepped aside for Morty to greet Volkner, and pulled Sarvani with her.

"It's so great to see you!" Besanii grinned as they walked across the room.

Sarvani nodded; "Well Morty got an invite a few days ago, and he managed to close the gym for a couple of days, so he invited me as his plus one!"

The two girls had known each other for years, and it had taken mere hours after they first met to become close friends. It was a bond no distance had broken, for they kept in touch frequently, and watched each other's contests for support. There was only one person missing to the happy reunion.

"Sa-Chan! Besanii!"

The girls swirled, grins already widening as the third girl of their best friend ring joined them and embraced into a group hug.

They chorused together in excitement; "Scarlett!"


	8. Competition

Gary, gym leader to Viridian city, rolled his eyes. He'd known the three longest, and so knew what was to come; constant high-pitched chatter.

"I'm so happy you're both here! I've missed you so much!" Besanii squealed. She had already flung her arms around the youngest, and Sa-Chan wrapped her arms around them both as Scarlett awkwardly attempted to wind her hands around her two friends.

"I missed you too!" Scarlett grinned, her eyes flicking around the room to notice people were looking. She gestured to the corner of the room, where all three went and took a seat around a small table. Being significantly younger than the majority of those around them, their dresses weren't as mature, but they still looked beautiful. Sarvani wore a beautiful cream prom style dress that flared from her waist to her knees. She had brown shoes and clutch bag, along with golden jewellery to match. Her dark brown hair was elegantly pulled up into a top knot, a few curls falling slightly down her face. Scarlett's cocktail dress was royal blue, with a silver sash around her waist, and matching gladiator sandals. Her hair was beautifully straight, and her two friends could imagine the fight she would have had with her hair to get it so perfect.

The girlish chatter began, and Gary strolled off to mingle with old friends. It was a while before anybody approached them.

"Ahhh, there you are."

Their eyes flicked around all together, slightly unnerving him until Besanii sprang up. "Hey, sorry I abandoned you." She turned back to her friends; "This is Volkner." Her eyes flicked to him as she gestured to her friends; "and these are my best friends, Sarvani and Scarlett." The latter's hand jutted out at lightning speed, staring at him expectantly. He politely shook her hand, and turned to Sarvani to do the same. "It's nice to meet you."

"Same."

The awkwardness became apparent in seconds, which made Besanii panic. It was killed just as fast as it came about though, by the sudden roar of an excited elite. "Besanii! Volk!"

Before they could turn, Flint had his arm draped over Volkner's shoulder and the other around Besanii's waist. His face was in the dorkiest of grins he could muster as he crowed in delight. "Glad you made him come!" He chuckled to his younger best friend. She beamed back at him, "girls, this is Flint."

His hand was already outstretched to both of them; "And of course I know who you are. She speaks of you both all the time."

"Good things I hope." Sarvani laughed.

"What are you talking about? We're both angels." Scarlett insisted, immediately showing off her sense of humour and brilliant poker face. Flint knew, right at that moment, that he was going to get along with the outspoken and confident young lady. He turned to Volkner; "Aren't you going to work the room?"

He frowned, and Besanii immediately nodded; "Come on, I'll come with you." She pushed his arm gently, knowing she could prevent a scene if she helped him talk to his fellow gym leaders. "Flint, look after my girlies." She smiled to her friends as she ushered Volkner toward the large crowd.

Flint chuckled as Scarlett and Sarvani exchanged a curious glance with each other. "Come on, let's get a drink and talk."

* * *

"Why do you do this to me?" He scowled as he turned away from yet another group of gym leaders. Volkner was renowned for being antisocial, and this was completely out of his comfort zone. She patted him sympathetically, but her face was contrasting as she frowned; "you let me do the majority of the talking!"

"Well it's your speciality, isn't it?" He rolled his eyes at her, shrugging her hand away. When he saw how she was pouting, he elbowed her; "Thank you, this would be so much harder without you."

Her pout changed to a beam, as she glanced around the room, there was only really one more group of people to see. "You're welcome. Afterall, you brought me here."

He frowned; "You shouldn't feel obligated, now I feel bad."

She waved her hand dismissively as they approached the group, falling in step just behind him so he could greet his co-workers and then introduce her.

A few of members of the group glanced to them before they'd joined them, and one recognised him immediately, "Volkner! What a surprise!"

He bowed his head gently; "Good to see you Jasmine."

The girl was beautiful, her petite figure covered in a granite grey dress with an aubergine sash around her waist and a ribbon in her silky chocolate brown hair to match. Her pretty, shockingly light blue eyes noticed Besanii and studied her in what seemed to be friendly, but with a fleck of something that Besanii couldn't understand.

The rest of the group turned too, smiling gently at Volkner, a lot of them only recognising him because of his status, and not because they knew him in person.

"This is Jasmine," he explained to Besanii; "she helped me with the lighthouse's architecture. She lives in Olivine City, in Johto."

The brunette smiled and held out her hand for Besanii to shake, which she did so politely.

"How is your Ampharos?"

Besanii rolled her eyes, trust Volkner to be interested in the electric types. Jasmine seemed delighted to inform him of it's health, clearly it had been poor before. Before she knew it, they were lost in deep conversation about the lighthouses in their cities, and gym talk that she could not be bothered to keep up with. She glanced to her three best friends to see if they would notice and rescue her, but they were all laughing at some punch-line Flint had reeled off. Probably that stupid 'knock knock' joke about the Ivysaur.

_Iv-a-sore knuckle from knocking and knocking._

"You're meant to be having fun." Somebody chuckled into her ear. She flinched away in shock, having been in her own little dream world, she hadn't noticed anyone approaching her. She looked aside to see a young man smiling in amusement at her. He was ridiculously attractive to her, with his foreign surfer looks; silver wind-swept hair, shockingly blue eyes and a physique that told her he was no slacker.

"I am." She blurted, sifting frantically through her recent memory to find this person's name. Why hadn't she remembered it? She can't have met him, she'd remember this face.

He held his hand out gently; "You don't look like it."

She rose an eyebrow and took his hand too, a smirk playing on her lips; "Well I can assure you I am. Thanks for your concern."

He seemed pleased by her answer, letting her hand go and jutted his thumb toward the bar; "Can I buy you a drink?"

She giggled; "you could if they weren't free."

He laughed, already turning towards it anyway. "Good point," he muttered.

She followed him, pleased to be out of the third-wheel role she'd taken on with Volkner and Jasmine. It was just a bonus he was good looking and charming on top of him being her saviour.

"I'm sorry, I don't know your name." She smiled sheepishly.

"Brawly, Dewford Gym leader."

"From Hoenn." She stated.

He grinned; "You know your geography."

She laughed and shook her head; "Not at all, I know my beaches."

"Well you won't get any better than Dewford." He assured her; "You should come and see it some time, I'd be happy to take you surfing."

"I'll hold you to it. I'm Besanii, by the way."

"Yes I know." He sat on a bar stool, offering his hand to help her onto one too. She took it gracefully, but a frown played on her face. "Flint is very fond of you."

"So he should be, we've been friends longer than I can remember." She glanced over to the man she called brother, and he met her look with a sparkle in his eye. Sarvani had disappeared, but Scarlett was still chatting with him.

"And Volkner?" His voice was suddenly alight with curiosity, which meant Flint had let something slip.

She was careful with how she replied; "I haven't known him quite as long, but I met him through Flint. We're very good friends too." She wasn't lying, just bending the truth in strange contortions.

He seemed pleased with her answer, sipping a drink that had been handed to him by the barman. She smiled graciously to the man too, taking a glass of her own.

"So, Besanii, what do you do?"

"I'm a coordinator." She held the glass to her lips until she'd finished speaking, then took a sip. She hated champagne, but she wasn't going to show him that.

He rose an eyebrow; "How did I guess?"

"We must have an air about us." She shrugged. As she thought about it, she, Sarvani and Scarlett were all very graceful, but that came with intensive training they had gone through with their pokemon. After all, a pokemon can only be as great as the person who leads them.

"I think it's because you don't look tough-"

"Hey!" She interupted, but he stopped her and continued; "No, no! I didn't mean like that. I assume you're strong, your best friends are top gym leader and elite, of course. I meant looks-wise. Even Cynthia has a ruggedness about her, because trainers only look for strength. You, on the other hand, look for beauty too."

"Great, first you insult my abilities, now you're accusing me of being vain." She teased, loving the way he squirmed as she forced him to dig a deeper hole."I'm kidding." She laughed, waving her hand nonchalantly.

Nervously, he laughed with her, nobody had ever dared teased him since he was a gym leader, except other gym leaders of course. He shook his head in amazement as she watched something in the distance; somebody taking the stage. Cynthia, he realised as she spoke eloquantly through the microphone.

"Ladies and gentleman," she gently wound down the conversation with her authoritive voice, the lights dimming to leave her in a spotlight. "Welcome to the Sinnoh Pokemon league and thank you so much for coming. Not many of you will know why you're here, but I'm grateful that you would take your time to travel such a long way to hear the news." People murmured quietly for a couple of seconds as she paused and smiled. "We are gathered tonight to celebrate the birthday of a very special woman who I have looked up to all my life. She holds the longest title of Elite in the entire world, and still looks as glamorous since her first day. Would you please give a round of applause for the wonderful Bertha on her sixty-fifth birthday."

People erupted with cheers as she took her place on the stage next to Cynthia. They air-kissed and hugged each other gently, then Cynthia took a step back and joined in with the clapping.

"Thank you so much for coming." Her voice was surprisingly strong, and Cynthia was completely right in her description. The elderly woman was elegant and undoubtedly strong looking. She wore a beautiful light pink skirt with an even paler pink chiffon shirt, and a deep pink shawl made of faux-fur. Her shoes were silver and kitten heeled, and her jewellery shone in the lighting. "Now, the invitations kindly hand written by this lovely young lady behind me spoke of a special announcement, and I shouldn't keep you waiting. Cynthia and I have been speaking for quite a while now, and I feel the time has come to pass the torch on. I am due my retirement, as are my loyal pokemon."

People clapped, and their mumbles sounded quite sad, but at the same time excited.

"And so," she cleared her throat; "I would like to hereby official invite one of the strongest trainer's I have ever met in replacement to my departure; Sunyshore gym leader and electric type master, Volkner!"

Besanii squealed with delight, her hands clapping furiously as she scanned the room for him.

Of course she could hear Flint's booming laugh as he shoved his blond friend toward the stage. She grimaced at the thought of what would happen when they were next alone. She regretted the fact that she'd given him the idea of ripping Flint's afro out.

"Wow, he looks excited..." Brawly muttered sarcastically into her ear. She laughed politely; "Not much makes him show it."

"Umm..." His voice echoed through the microphone. It was obvious he was hating every second that he was forced to speak there for. "I'm honoured to be even considered for the position, and I think we all know it will take a lot of work to live up to your standards, Bertha. Thank you for inspiring all of the Sinnoh Gym leaders and elites, you gave us something for us to aspire to be like. And I'm sure I can speak on behalf of the majority of people in the room too as I say thank you for your dedicated time."

Besanii smiled gently, knowing his words were very genuine. People clapped and roared in agreement with him, and even clapped him on the back as he scurried off the stage to hide in a dark corner so his reddened face could cool down. She slid off her bar stool and went to follow him, only to be caught by her wrist. "Where are you going?" Brawly frowned.

"I was going to congratulate Volkner, and see if he was alright." She looked down at their contact. It was no longer restraint now she wasn't moving, but his grip was still strong. He loosened it was she looked, but did not let go. "Well aren't you going to dance with me?" He nodded toward the band who were now waiting for their conductor.

She glanced over her shoulder to find Volkner was nowhere to be seen, and she felt she would be acting very impolite if she suddenly ditched her newest friend. She nodded gently, allowing herself to be towed toward the dance floor as the music began playing.

* * *

**Yeah, a bit of an awkward place to stop, but hey. I won't be able to get a new chapter out for a week or so at least, too much work. Gah.**

So I thought I'd give you what I've got. :)


	9. Friend Zoned

**Just thought I'd give you a heads up. I'm aware of the true definition for the word "Elitist," but I am going to apply it to this story as being the noun for a member of the elite four. I do not mean to imply that they are arrogant about their position, it is simply intended as a name for them.**

* * *

"She looks like she's having fun." Scarlett stated, nudging Sarvani, who'd been chatting to her boyfriend. Flint looked too, and chuckled. "Well there are worse people to flirt with." His eyes sparkled deviously, earning a pair of glares.

"What are you up to, Flint?" The blonde young lady narrowed her eyes.

He widened his eyes innocently; "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah you do." She retorted. Sarvani giggled; "he's meddling."

Flint held up his hands in surrender; "alright alright. But you girls could always help me."

The two girls looked at each other and advanced on him, eager to learn his plan.

* * *

"I've never been to such a formal party before. It's so beautiful in here." Besanii attempted small talk as they whirled around slowly to a light tune.

Brawly smiled; "Well you certainly fit in."

"I do?" Her face lit up; "That's good to know, thanks. I was worried I wasn't, being amongst the biggest stars of the world."

"Definitely not, you're catching quite a lot of attention." He flashed his pearly teeth, running a few fingers through his hair, and then placing his hand back on the small of her back gently.

She glanced around the room nervously, but didn't see anyone paying any particular attention to her. It took her a couple of moments until she realised what he was getting at. "Oh!" She giggled, earning a chuckle from him. "Sorry. I'm a little slow..."

"Don't be silly."

She smiled; "you're sweet."

"I try."

They stopped twirling -it couldn't really be called dancing- as the music came to an end and clapped the string band.

"I should go congratulate Volkner now." She bowed her head and turned away, but he caught her wrist and followed her; "I would like to, too. If you don't mind?"

"Sure."

They walked together, chatting casually about her up and coming grand festival. Coming from Hoenn, the birth place of contests, he was well accustomed to the contents of the greatest step to a coordinator's life. _Unlike certain people... _Besanii inwardly muttered as her eyes settled on Volkner. She cast aside the childish bitterness and sped up her walking; "Volk!"

Brawly let go of her to allow her to hug her 'old friend'. The two embraced awkwardly, receiving a raise of the eyebrows from the foreign gym leader, but he shrugged and held out his hand. "Congrats, mate." He pronounced his words with a strong foreign accent, and Volkner took a second to reply. "Thanks."

"I'm so proud of you!" Besanii exclaimed excitedly, her arms flailing everywhere. Brawly had to duck at one point. "My two best friends... Elitists." She paused, then burst into laughter; "You're going to see Flint _every day." _

The blond nodded; "That's the only draw back."

"I hear the pay's good though." Brawly offered, earning a nod from Besanii. "I should know," she giggled; "I spend enough of Flint's."

She was so excited that she had failed to notice the strange silent exchange Brawly and Volkner were both having. Being the strongest trainers of their respective towns, it was very natural for them to have both taken on the roles of 'alpha male'. This did not go down too well when one met another, like an Arcanine fighting for it's territory, the supposedly civilised stand off had similar effects. As their hands clapped together in a hand shake, their instincts brought out their competitiveness, though being in such a formal event made them hold back. Not that they would suddenly start fighting anyway.

"Brawly!"

Volkner groaned, having only just been speaking about Flint and his inhuman ability to stay at his level of volume without having ever lost his voice once.

The red head beamed and took the Dewford Gym Leader's hand, shaking it violently with enthusiasm. "I see you wasted no time flirting with my sister."

Besanii cringed and cast an apologetic look to Brawly as he looked at her in embarrassment. Flint continued to roar laughing, though his eyes were on Volkner as he waited for his reaction. The blond kept a calm expression, as calm as Volkner ever looks anyway, as he glanced at his hands and rubbed them together absent-mindedly.

"I was keeping her company, actually." Brawly defended playfully, though his neck and shoulders were evidently tensed. "Volkner had been distracted and she looked a little lonely."

Volkner looked up and glanced to Besanii. She looked down quickly so as to avoid eye contact.

Though Flint felt the tension, it was exactly what he wanted. He laughed through it with ease, like a knife through butter; "Now that's not a way to treat a lady."

"No. My apologies." Volkner mumbled, taking a step back as if to leave, but he lingered still.

"Well Besanii, you could do a lot worse than this womanizer..." He jutted his head toward Brawly and winked.

"Hey!" The man in question protested.

"Please leave Flint. You're embarrassing me." Besanii sighed, gently slapping her finger tips to the bridge of her nose as if to hide herself.

He paused his laughter and looked at her, then chuckled; "Oh, you want alone time. I get it."

"Flint." She growled, it was enough for him to scuttle off quickly.

He casually passed Scarlett and Sarvani, who had stood coincidentally within eavesdropping distance, but far enough that they weren't obvious about it. "You're up." He patted them on the shoulders as he continued to walk past them and toward Elitist Aaron.

* * *

"I'm so sorry." Besanii groaned as they wandered toward a free table.

Brawly grinned; "don't be. I've known your brother long enough to know what he's like." With his mouth a wide as it was, his accent was even more distinct, and she had a hard time trying to understand him. She took a while before she replied properly.

"Yeah... You should try living with him." She sighed.

"You live with him?"

She nodded; "For the moment, with Volkner at his Gym. While I wait for the Grand Festival."

"Oh yeah you mentioned that." His eyes were in the near distance and he nodded pointedly; "Do you know these?"

Besanii looked to where he was looking and grinned; "These are my best friends."

They were close enough to hear her by that time, and they both beamed back at her. "We hope you don't mind, but we're stealing her away from you for a little while."

"Of course, I'll see you around Besanii." Brawly took her hand and kissed the upper side of it, then met her shocked eyes and winked. A giggle erupted from her chest and she looked down, as if shy. "Yes, I'll be sure to talk to you before we leave."

He nodded and turned on his heels, walking off to leave them at the table they were just about to sit at. Scarlett dragged her two friends down to sit, Sarvani next to her, Besanii opposite. Like an interrogation, they both leaned forward toward the purple haired girl and rose their eyebrows.

"What?" She leaned back in her seat to increase the distance between their noses.

"You know what." Scarlett's eyes sparkled menacingly, that confidence she emanated unnerved Besanii greatly, even though she was several years her junior.

Sarvanii sat back; "I thought you were seeing Volkner." She tilted her head innocently, as if this was what she truly believed.

"No." Besanii laughed nervously; "We're barely friends, and we don't see each other in that kind of way." Her eyes drifted to Brawly, who had been glancing to her sideways as he spoke to a gym leader she knew to be from Johto, but she couldn't remember his name. Her eyes shot back to her friends the moment she made eye contact with him. "He, on the other hand, I can see very clearly. 20-20 vision, I'd say."

Scarlett and Sarvanii chuckled, the glance between them did not go unnoticed by Besanii, but she couldn't understand it. She decided on trying to change the subject instead; "Why aren't you with you boyfriends anyway?"

Scarlett waved her hand dismissively; "We see them all the time."

"It's you we need to catch up with." Sarvani agreed, looking over to Brawly and back. "I didn't think he was your type."

"Are you kidding? He's gorgeous!" She giggled girlishly back at her friends.

Scarlett nodded, unusually agreeable and not being as blunt as she usually was. "Yeah, but he's all over you. I thought you liked the 'come and get me' types."

Her thoughts went immediately to Volkner, it may not have been intentional, but he was definitely one of those types. Scarlett smirked knowingly, and Sarvani nodded victoriously.

"All right, what are you up to?" Besanii folded her arms.

"Nothing." They chorused together, looking way too innocent to be innocent. She narrowed her eyes at them, and they glanced at each other.

Scarlett piped up again; "We just think you like Volkner."

"I do like Volkner." She shrugged; "Just not in the way you think."

"But what if he likes you?" Sarvani muttered slyly, earning a nod from Scarlett.

Besanii sighed; "Then I assure you'll be the first to know about it. Don't you worry."

"But-"

"We're not having this conversation...!" She sang and stood up, about to turn when Sarvani folded; "Don't leave us! We'll talk about other things!"

Scarlett nodded; "No point trying to out-stubborn you, Besanii."

Said girl nodded, even Scarlett, queen of arguments, could not make her give in. She would just simply refuse to speak, which would cause them to apologise, eventually.

She beamed and sat back down again; "So how's Hoenn?"

* * *

It was starting to get late, and Flint had finally retreated to sit next to his oldest friend. Volkner looked at him curiously; "Why are you so quiet?" He scanned his expression for an answer. "Why are you smiling at me like that?"

Flint shrugged innocently; "I'm a happy person Volk, you should try to be too, once in a while. It can't hurt you, right?"

"Right." The blond muttered, rolling his eyes and slumping back into his seat as he tipped his head back to finish the dregs of his champagne. His eyes slowly swept the room, recognising each person standing together, and noting the cliques that had formed. Candice and Misty were having a laugh together, getting along probably due to the similarities in their pokemon type choice. The same reason probably applied to the sudden bonding between Erika, Aaron and Gardenia. Byron and Hoenn Champion Steven were talking animatedly, Roark listening patiently and talking whenever he got the chance. Chuck, Bruno and Crasher Wake were having a playful stand off, neither one blinking, but both chuckling every so often. Maylene, Bugsy, Janine, Tate, Liza and Whitney, being the youngest of gym leaders, were huddled in a corner, clearly bragging childishly to each other. Whilst another group opposite them were far more sophisticated with their vast age difference; Agatha, Koga, Blaine, Pryce, Wattson, Norman and his wife, Juan and Fantina circled a table, laughing politely with each other as they took turns telling stories. A lot of the others were paired up and dancing, either with their partners or just with a friend.

His eyes stopped at a certain group though. Cynthia, who had already taken a liking to Besanii during their greeting, had led her to her circle of closest friends, and it was a very beautiful circle to be in, if one was vain enough to notice. Sabrina and Clair were quiet and paid little attention to the group they were in except when spoken to, but the rest were chattering girlishly. Roxanne was playing with Besanii's hair and complimenting it, while Cynthia spoke to Winona. Flannery was speaking to Besanii about something, and they looked very serious about the topic.

"If you want to talk to them, I'll come with you." Flint suddenly nudged Volkner out of his thoughts, and he went red with frustration for being caught staring.

"I spaced." He insisted, shrugging carelessly.

Flint chuckled; "Yeah right, I haven't seen you 'spacing' in a long while. Not like that anyway. Who's the lucky girl?" His eyes fell over the group Volkner had been staring at.

"No one." He coughed; "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You haven't said that in a long while either."

"Shut up Flint."

"You're only saying that because I'm right."

"I'm saying it because I want you to shut up."

"I'm right, right?"

"No!" Volkner stood up, frowning deeply; "I'm tired, can we leave please? I have a battle in the morning."

Flint studied him and shrugged; "Fine. You go get Besanii, I'll get our coats."

"Wh-" Volkner couldn't protest as Flint practically ran away. "Ughh..." He groaned, then inhaled deeply as he braved the circle of girl talk.

* * *

"...this shampoo I used at Volkner's. It has Razz berry extracts in."

"I'll have to get some, your hair is so soft!" Roxanne gushed. Besanii beamed at her, thankful for the compliment.

Flannery suddenly spoke; "Never thought Volkner would be that kind of guy."

"You seem very friendly with him." Roxanne commented.

Besanii looked to her fingers as she lied very convincingly; "We've been friends since we were young. He just likes peace and quiet."

"I find it rude." Clair muttered, earning a nod from Sabrina, who had yet to say anything to her.

"I can assure you on his behalf he doesn't mean to be rude. He's very kind when you get to know him." Besanii defended, but she did so in an amiable way so as not to offend her newest friends. It wasn't very often she got to have girl time, as most girls she knew were coordinators and didn't like her because of her success. The ones who did like her, and were as successful as her, lived in other regions.

Roxanne dropped the lock of Besanii's hair she had been looking around her finger and placed the finger on her chin in thought; "perhaps Besanii's right. Maybe he's just shy."

A light, airy voice jumped in; "And with a friend like Flint, it would be hard to get a word in edgeways." Winona's laugh was like a bell tinkling in a soft breeze. Her lilac hair wafted with her movements like gentle winds were following her every move. Many of the girls around her mumbled in agreement.

Flannery had suddenly become very talkative; "So if your two childhood friends became trainers, why didn't you?"

All the girls looked at her suddenly, all extremely curious about the answer she would give. She chuckled nervously, and looked down at her fingers again. "Well I... I don't know really. I'd always been competitive with Flint." She corrected herself quickly; "And Volkner. Even before we had a pokemon. But they're both older than me, and set off on their journey a few years before me." Her eyes flashed around her little circle to see if they believed her, and there was no doubt in any of their faces. "I guess those years allowed me to become more feminine. Not saying you're not feminine." She hadn't failed to notice a few of them about to protest. "I'd spent my life around boys, that when they left I was free to make my own choices. I spent my time being creative, and I became a coordinator."

Flannery looked down; "Oh. So you never went into training first?"

"Oh yeah, of course I did. Don't most people?" Besanii shrugged.

"Is there something on your mind, Flannery?" Cynthia was not the only one to notice the doubt in the auburn-haired girl, she was just the first to voice her concern.

The girl in question looked up to the female champion. "I-I... I'm doubting my choice about become a gym leader."

All but Besanii and Cynthia gasped at the statement. Besanii because she didn't realise the seriousness of it, Cynthia because she was very understanding.

Flannery was quick to defend herself; "I'm not quitting, I'm just wondering whether I made the right choice. I don't know whether I should have become a coordinator..."

"Well you still have the choice..." Roxanne muttered.

"No, I don't." Flannery said quickly; "I chose this career, and I'm not turning back now."

Sabrina, who'd had her eyes closed for the majority of this conversation now, began talking; "you can do both."

Cynthia nodded; "Fantina is a coordinator and a gym leader, she balances both lives extremely well."

"You should go talk to her." Winona agreed, smiling happily.

"Besanii."

She jumped, having been absorbed in the conversation and spun around to her name, to see Volkner staring down at her. She stood quickly; "I'm sorry, I should have come to keep you company, is Flint annoying you again?"

"No, but I have to be up early in the morning, so it's time to leave." He told her quickly taking a step back as she took one forward out of the circle she'd been sat in.

"Oh," she sighed; "Well alright, if you order the ride, I'll say my goodbyes."

He nodded stiffly, then half bowed to the rest of the group; "I'll be seeing you, good night."

Besanii glanced over her shoulder to see them all nodding back to him, and Cynthia stood to say her farewell to him. Besanii began giving out her personal farewells.

"I'll be sure to watch you at the Grand Festival!" Roxanne beamed, wrapping her up in a tight hug.

"Yes, best wishes." Sabrina said monotonously, holding her hand out and shaking it.

"Good luck, Besanii. I wish you the best!" Winona tinkled, taking her hand too.

Clair piped in; "If Cynthia thinks you're good enough, then you'll go far." It may not be a straight-forward compliment, but Besanii had already learnt that it was Clair's way of wishing her luck. She thanked her and turned to Flannery; "If you ever need to talk about coordinating, get in touch with Flint or Volkner, they'll know how to get hold of me."

"Thank you Besanii, you made me realise what I've been missing out on." They embraced, and though they'd met mere hours ago, it seemed like they'd already bonded anyway.

"Bye guys, it was really nice to meet you." Besanii grinned, and scuttled toward the dance floor, where Sarvani was dancing with her boyfriend. They both looked at her and stopped as she reached them. "Volkner says we're to leave now." She pulled a face, and Sarvani did too. "You'll come and see me before you leave, right?"

Sarvani glanced at Morty, who looked quite guilty, then back to Besanii; "I'm really sorry, but Morty has to get back to his gym by tomorrow morning. I'll come and see you soon, though, I promise." There was a hint of something in her voice, but Besanii didn't pick up on it. They hugged tightly and Besanii quickly hugged Morty too, then she left to find Scarlett.

"You're leaving?" She cried, throwing her arms around Besanii in a locking embrace; "No! He can't take you. I'll bite him if he tries!"

Gary chuckled as Besanii threw him a pleading glance. His hands wrapped around the younger girl and pulled, and Besanii yanked herself away.

"Sarvani can't come see me in the morning, can you?"

Scarlett shook her head sadly; "my final contest is tomorrow."

"Understood, do your best." Besanii smiled weakly, then nodded toward Gary; "I'll be seeing you around then."

"Break a leg at the Grand Festival!" Scarlett called after her, and she laughed back over her shoulder as she wandered toward Flint. He smiled and threw an arm over her shoulder. "Well this has been fun."

"It sure has."

"The boat is here." He informed her, earning a groan from her. He laughed, very aware of her sea sickness, as he'd once been her target practice, and she'd been very good at landing on the bullseye. He shuddered from the memory, sobering from his laugh quickly. "I'm sitting far, far away from you."

"I took a tablet." She punched him lightly in the stomach as the walked down the small path framed by beautiful flowers. "If this place wasn't the most terrifying step in a trainer's life, it would pretty romantic..." She sighed, taking in the scenery for what could have been her last time.

Flint recoiled from her at the same time as she realised what she'd said and to whom. "EW!"

* * *

**Wow, and to think I was struggling at 600 words weeks ago, then sat down today and got nearly 4000 now! XD**

**I just couldn't stop myself once I got going. Exciting chapter up and coming, can't wait! It's already half written! XD**


	10. Face Off

She woke up to a red ball of hair in her face and recoiled from it. It jolted RaiRai, and he woke sleepily. Smiling apologetically, Besanii slipped out of the bed and moved into her morning rituals.

"Morning!" She sang as she passed Volkner at the breakfast bar, he was sipping a steaming cup of coffee whilst leaning over a newspaper.

"Mn..." He grunted, clearly not awake enough to be listening to her chime in soprano.

"Coff-eee?" The robot followed her to the seat she took and offered a pot of coffee.

"Tea please." She'd learnt to deal with the electricals around the house now, having been there for a few days.

They then sat in silence for a little while, until Volkner finally looked up; "did you enjoy your night?"

"Yes, a lot. Thanks for taking me." It all sounded very formal to her, so she giggled; "look at us, talking all posh."

He snorted quietly and turned back to his newspaper.

"Anything good?" She inquired, craning her neck.

"Just a few of the photos from the party last night, you're in one of them." He jabbed his finger at her, standing next to Flint, Scarlett and Sarvani, smiling pleasantly. Well, Flint was grinning as usual, his arms somehow wrapped around all three of them.

She laughed at the site of it; "He looks such a man whore."

Volkner joined in with her, chuckling quietly as he flicked over the page. "Naturally, I got front page."

"Too right! You're being promoted to a member of the Elite Four!" She patted his shoulder excitedly, but he was suddenly frowning. "What's wrong?"

He shrugged, and before he could reply, the electronic bell sounded through the house. He stood, pulling away from her touch and made for the front door. "That'll be my challenger..."

She nodded; "Good luck."

"Thanks." He snorted as he left the room.

She sighed, looking to RaiRai; "Maybe we should do some training today, what do you think? The others could do with a stretch."

As if to prove her point, RaiRai stood on his hind legs and stretched, his tail going rigid and crackling with blue electricity.

"Besanii!"

She jumped, turning her head towards the front room. It wasn't very often Volkner shouted. "Yeah?"

"It's for you." He called back monotonously, obviously unimpressed by a visitor to his house that wasn't for him.

She hopped up, and smiled at RaiRai; "Sarvani and Scarlett must have been winding me up!" She ran bare-footed across the cold white tiles, her slippers falling off in the first few steps and slid into the hall.

It wasn't who she expected though, but her smile didn't falter. "Brawly!"

"You promised you'd see me before you left." He mocked a pained, hurtful expression, then held his arms wide as she ran into the hug.

"I'm sorry!" She cried, playing along.

He chuckled and let her go; "So are you busy today?"

She looked to RaiRai, who shrugged and wandered off. "Uhhh... Sure."

His face lit up; "Great!"

"Let me go and get ready first." She began to skip backwards for the stairs.

"But you look fi-"

"Just let her go." Volkner grumbled, "She won't be satisfied until she's tried on every combination of clothes in her bag."

"Too right." She snapped back at him playfully, sprinting up the stairs.

She ran into the guest bedroom and bounced on the bed, startling Flint awake as she jumped about then landed on her knees.

"Wha- Besanii?" He tried to orient himself but it was difficult as he was being shaken violently.

"Brawly came!" She hissed quietly with excitement. "He came to Sunyshore and he's taking me on a date!"

After a few seconds of processing, Flint managed to smiled; "Well that's great, Bee."

"I know right?" She slid off the bed and began throwing stuff out of her bag. "I have to wear something amazing, he saw me look fantastic last night, I can't let him down now."

"I'm sure he doesn't care-"

"Shh ah ba ba!" She spewed a load of nonesense to shut him up, and it worked instantly. He chuckled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"What are you doing today then?" He asked, tensing his muscles to awaken them.

She shrugged; "I don't know! So I don't know what to wear."

He nodded; "Well, knowing Brawly, he'll probably want to go to the beach, so swimwear would be your best option."

Her eyes widened; "Of course, and I'll take a dress to put over me in case he takes us elsewhere. Flint you genius."

"I try." He replied snootily, throwing a pillow at her as she walked for the bathroom. It hit the door instead though.

"Fail." He heard her mutter through the door.

"I'll get you later." He grumbled, slipping out of bed and got changed himself. He stomped down the stairs sleepily, his rude awakening suddenly catching up with him, but it was forgotten as soon as he spotted Brawly sat on an armchair with his back to him.

"Persistent bugger, ain't ya?" Flint teased, causing the man in question to jump.

They laughed together as Brawly stood. "I learnt from the best." Pointedly shaking hands with Flint.

"Touche." The redhead roared, clapping Brawly on the back and leading him into the main hall. "So what are you planning to do with my little sister?"

"Well, I promised her I'd teach her to surf." He smiled; "So I thought I'd start today while I have the chance."

Flint chuckled; "So you want to woo her with some of your moves?"

"That's the plan." Brawly laughed nervously, wondering whether Flint was interrogating him protectively or just plain curious.

Flint's reply gave him the answer; "Well it'll work with her, she loves showing off."

"That's what I thought, her being a coordinator and all." He sweatdropped, feeling the pressure of Volkner's judgemental stare as he passed and went upstairs.

* * *

"Not too much, don't want it to run..." She muttered to herself as she applied light make-up to herself. Her two-piece swimsuit was plain red, with a white frill hemming the bottom part. On top of it, she wore a white cotton maxi dress that would keep the sun off her as well as keep her cool. She decided against jewellery, but put on her straw cowboy hat and hooked her aviators on her dress ready to shade her from the sun.

She looked into the mirror and spotted someone watching her from the doorway. She spun on her heels; "Volkner?"

He nodded and entered the room, as if he'd waited for her permission.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, turning back to the mirror and applying lipgloss.

"Yes, actually." She could see him move closer, but she didn't turn as she focussed on her lips. "Oh?" She hummed, her lips in a locked 'O' shape while the make-up want painted on a light pink colour.

So when he grabbed her upper arm, it took her by surprise as he spun her to face him. She inclined her head back to see his face in such close proximity, and his expression was fierce. "You can't do this."

"Do what?" She stammered, intimidated by the strength he was applying to her tiny arm, his fingers and thumb touching together as they wrapped around her.

"Date him." He replied simply through gritted teeth.

She strugged against his grip, and he loosened slightly. "What?" She couldn't understand why, and the only reason that flashed into her mind was the one Sarvani had given to her the night before.

_But what if he likes you?_

As if he could read her thoughts, he shook her again; "Are you stupid? Did you forget the paparazzi, what they're saying about us?"

It was a strange feeling that she couldn't understand, like the burden of guilt from Sarvani's words had been lifted from her shoulders, only to have a strange emotion drop on her heart to weigh her back down again.

"You're going to make yourself out to be a bitch. Or a whore, whatever." He growled quietly, so as to not be heard by the two laughing men down the stairs.

He thought he'd gotten through to her as her eyes had widened, and he let her go. As if trying to reign in his annoyance, he softened his face as best he could; "I can go break the news to him for you if you want..."

She blinked; "What?"

"Well you clearly don't want to have to tell him to go away, and I'd gladly do it..." He trailed off, seeing how he wasn't getting the grateful expression he'd been expecting from her.

"How dare you!" She jabbed his shoulder with an accusing finger; "What, you think because you take me places and we're fake best friends that you can control me now? You do _not _get to decide who I do and do not see. Now get out of my way before I just walk right over you."

Having not been on this side of Besanii before, only ever seen her like this with her brother, he was completely dazed, and only moved aside as she shoved him that way and stormed out of the room, leaving a trail of tension behind her.

He blinked a few times, still staring at the space she'd been stood in just moments before, smiling at him like they were the old friends she'd pointed out was fake. Why did that etch so deeply into his mind? Why did he loath the fact that he hadn't known this fiery tempered coordinator for as long as Flint?

Deep down he knew the answer.

All the girls he'd ever paid attention to had been there at his beck and call, but not this one. She had freely given her politeness, but anything more involved payment. He had to work for her affection, and done very little to lose it again. He knew he'd have to work to regain it, but for now, he did as Flint did in these situations; he lay low.

He listened by the door of her room as she finally trotted down the stairs. Clearly she'd taken a few moments to go over the argument in her mind and cool down before she went on this date too.

"Volkner said we can use his beach." She said loudly, clearly knowing he would hear her, she'd done it to wind him up. Now he had no escape from it all after the gym battle.

"That's kind of him." Flint said suspiciously, earning a forced laugh from Besanii. He groaned and sank against the wall closest to him, awaiting the verbal attack from his oldest friend. He could hear the two leave, and Flint chuckled something to himself as he clomped up the stairs louder than a Camerupt.

Oddly enough, he didn't say anything as he entered the guest room to see Volkner sat behind the door with his head in his hands. Instead, the usually loud Elitist sat on the floor beside the bed, silently. The only noise he made was the soft grunt as he did so, and the sighing exhale.

"You gotta tell her, mate." He finally spoke quietly; "If it's eating you up this badly."

"Shut up, Flint. Just shut the hell up."

* * *

**Wow. 10 chapters and not a first kiss in sight?  
This has to be a record for me. **

**Reviews please? :)**


	11. First Dates

"Come on!"

He'd expected her to be energetic, but she was halfway down the beach by the time he'd touched the sand. Chuckling, Brawly sprinted to catch her, and she squealed and picked up her pace too. Her Swampert bounded beside her with a rented surfboard on its back.

He skidded to a stop at the sea's edge, grinning at her as she took the surfboard and and turned to him. She'd insisted on a red patterned one, to match her bikini.

"You ready to go?"

She looked out to the sea and pursed her lips. "I've never surfed before."

"Well I'll teach you." He took her hand, trying to drag her toward the water.

Struggling back, she shook her head; "You show me how it's done first, I might get some confidence and get all competitive."

He laughed; "Sure, but you're not going to be better than me."

She nudged him; "we'll see."

"Can I borrow your Swampert?"

She glanced at her pokemon. "Uhhh, sure!"

He grinned and beckoned the large water type, who happily bounded into the water and shot off into the deeper area.

Besanii sat down on her surfboard that lay on the sand, watching as her pokemon lifted natural waves into more powerful ones. Brawly balanced at the top of one, waiting until gravity kicked in and threw him down the front of the wave. He twisted his board to glide diagonally down the wave, his hand dragging a trail behind him just like the board was. It was mesmerizing to watch, stunning Besanii into a trance as he danced down the water with a strength and elegance that inspired her to stand up quickly.

"I can do this." She grinned, running for the waters. Her Swampert zeroed in on her and swept down the wave faster than any board could, and helped her along into the deeper waters. As the large wave calmed and crashed into the shore, they reached Brawly who was calmly standing on his board as it rocked gently in the wave's aftermath.

"That confident, huh?"

She grinned and nodded as she straddled her board. Swampert floated close by; "How hard can it be with a great water pokemon at my side?"

"That's true. And once you get better maybe you can go it alone." He agreed, sitting onto his board too.

* * *

He lost?

He had almost forgotten the feeling, especially when he'd only beaten this girl mere days ago.

"Congratulations." He said monotonously. He patted his pockets and cringed. "Give me a moment."

The girl nodded excitedly, practically bouncing on her platform as she cuddled her Lopunny who looked extremely tired, but equally happy as its trainer.

Flint rolled his eyes, but turned to the girl. "Well done! You're all set for the Sinnoh league now!"

"I know! I'm so excited!" The girl cried, beaming to the Elitist, her hero.

"Now you won't make the same mistake next time and leave it until the next year, will you?" Flint said semi-seriously. He didn't want to burst her bubble, so to speak, but he also didn't want her being foolish again.

The girl nodded fiercely; "Of course not, but I was only late because I was in the hospital for two months. I didn't want to wait another year for the Sinnoh league, so I worked hard to get my badges in time for this one!" Lopunny was patting the girls hair comfortingly, a look of adoring in it's eye.

Flint automatically felt guilty, but she wouldn't accept his apology, instead she returned her pokemon and ran up to him. "Thank you for believing in me."

"You're welcome." He grinned, "You've got a fire in your heart, I could sense that in the last battle."

She swelled with pride, but before she could reply, Volkner had returned. She bounced up to him as he held out his personal badge. He seemed to have managed to pull on a cheerful façade in his absence. "Well done, and good luck with the Sinnoh league."

She took it from his gently and admired it; "Thank you sir!"

He snorted at his name; "Now go rest up tonight, and train really hard from tomorrow to the league, okay?"

"Yes sir!" She bowed and started to skip out. She twisted at her waist and waved at both of them; "See you! It was a real honour to meet you both!"

Flint raised an eyebrow and shot a look at Volkner as soon as she'd left. The gym leader rolled his eyes and turned. "Yes I know. I shouldn't have underestimated her. I should have badges with me at all battles. I was stupid."

"Well yeah, but you lost!"

Volkner frowned, not quite sure why Flint was stating the obvious quite so... Obviously.

"You only beat her a few days ago!"

He shrugged, "She trained hard."

"True, but not enough to beat you again."

The two entered the kitchen and the elitist pulled out two bottles of chilled cider, opening them and handing one to his friend. Volkner handed his pokeballs to a robot, who rushed them off for a recovery period. "I don't get it," he mused as he sat opposite Flint; "you said the other day that she had talent."

"You're missing my point, how did you lose so suddenly?" The red-head shook his head in wonder, pressing the bottle to his lips as he stared relentlessly into his friend's eyes in an attempt to see any lies.

It unnerved Volkner slightly, so his gaze shifted to the bottle as he scratched absently at the label. "I guess I was distracted."

"Uh-huh."

"Not by what _you_ think." The gym leader sighed.

Flint grinned, waving the bottle slightly as he spoke; "Why are you thinking about what you think I'm thinking about and then denying it?"

"I am not... What?"

Flint burst into laughter, and Volkner had to chuckle. They clashed their bottles together.

"To the undeniable truth." Flint toasted and gulped the refreshing drink.

Volkner smiled wryly; "And to desperately trying to understand it."

* * *

"That was so in."

"It was more out than last season Jimmy Pikachoos."

"Maybe you should visit the opticians, I think your sight needs checking."

"That's it," Besanii threw the yellow volleyball toward the sea, where RaiRai and Brawly's Meditite chased after it together playfully. "I'm not playing with a cheater."

"Oh no you didn't!" Brawly exclaimed, skidding under the net and running at her. She squealed and sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her. Being fairly short, she didn't stand a chance against the long-legged gym leader, and he tackled her to the soft sandy floor, earning a grunt as they skidded along a little.

He suddenly gasped, realising what he'd just done, but as he pulled himself to his hands and knees, she rolled over to laugh at him. He laughed too, thankful that she was probably the only girl he knew who would receive a rugby tackle and take it well.

They sobered up slowly, still panting from the game they'd played. She wanted to roll her eyes at how cliché it all was, but her eyes were entranced by his shockingly blue ones, but they grew blurry as he moved in, lightly pressing his lips to hers. It was nothing more than a light kiss, but he was blushing heavily when he drew back and sat up, pulling her with him. It was rather alluring to see how easily flushed he got.

"Sorry, shouldn't really kiss on a first date..." He scratched his head and peeked up at her expression.

She looked down to her lap and smiled girlishly. "Well, we could count Bertha's party as our first." She peeked up through her eyelashes to see him beaming, a raucous chuckle rumbling through his throat. It soon stopped when she shoved his shoulder; "but if you ever tackle me like that again, I will beat you."

Seeing that she was only playing, (though he could sense an underlying tone of seriousness) he continued to laugh, pulling his hands up in surrender. "Sorry, sorry!"

"So you'd better be."

* * *

"I think I figured what's been eating at me."

Flint hummed through a gulp, then smacked his lips open with an "aahhh!" He eyed his friend carefully, noting the slight slur in his voice. "Took you that long, huh?" He chuckled, bemused by his tipsy friend.

"Uh-huh..." Volkner lifted his bottle upside down to see nothing but a slight drip pour onto his table. "I don't know whether I can handle this Elite thing."

Flint nearly sprayed the remains of his third cider from his mouth as he stared wide eyed. It took him a moment to swallow, but as soon as he had, his mouth was open to exclaim; "What?"

The gym leader waggled his finger at his friend as he handed the bottle to his robot and took a full one from it. "I'm happy I was offered and all, but what if being here is where I'm meant to be? What if I've reached my peak here? I don't think I could handle another slump like the one I was in."

"Whoa, whoa. WHOA!" Flint nearly dropped the empty bottle as he flung his arms around in shock. "You are not going to get in a slump again, you hear me?"

"What's to stop me? It'll be just like I was before. I'll be promoted, I'll be good for some time, I'll work my ass off, get bored, and slump. What's to stop that cycle?" Even just mentioning it seemed to bring Volkner down, his whole posture dropped significantly. Though that could've been the alcohol.

Flint frowned; "I wasn't there for you last time, bro. And I'm sorry for that. I won't do it again, you won't be alone. You've got me this time, and... And Besanii."

"She's not interested." Volkner snorted.

"Yes she is..."

"I don't mean that way," The blond interrupted; "she has a career, Flint. I don't expect her to look out for me when we only met a few weeks ago..."

For once, Flint was at a loss for words, he gaped like a goldeen, and he knew all he could do was deny Volkner's assumptions.

"You'd be surprised, Volk." He muttered; "She may be strong willed, and stubborn, but it also makes her very loyal. I don't think she'd abandon you if you needed help."

Another silence crept over them both as they drank some more.

"I don't deserve you, Flint."

"... You're pissed, aren't you?"

* * *

**Lol Bromances are so hilarious.**

Sorry for such a long wait in the updates! I wrote a HUUUUGE chapter on my netbook and it decided it didn't want to save it. WHOO. Takes a lot of will to restart it all again. I'm pretty sure the chapter didn't end like this, either, but this way was definitely better. ;D

**Reviews make my day! ^^  
**


	12. The winner is

"So tomorrow I promise to train with you."

"Really?" Her eyes lit up in excitement. Both Flint and Volkner had refused.

"Well I disrupted your training session today, I'd love to help." Brawly grinned.

They stopped at the front door.

"So how long are you staying for?" She asked, loosening her grip on his hand.

He shrugged, glancing over her shoulder to the city; "I'm not needed at the moment, it's the quiet season. They'll call me when they need me."

She nodded, smiling at the answer.

"So... ten?"

"Sounds good!" She grinned, then opened her arms for a hug. He did so quickly. "Thank you for today, I really enjoyed myself."

"Me too." He gave a lopsided smile and scratched the back of his head.

That awkward silence swept over them as neither really knew what to do from there.

"I'll see you in the morning then?" She rose an eyebrow.

"Yep."

"Good night."

"G'night." He nodded, bringing himself closer to her. She tilted her head back to see his face better, and he planted a kiss on her lips quickly. It would have lasted longer, but he smiled halfway through and she giggled.

She turned giddily and didn't dare look back in case she made a fool of herself. But she did glance back with a smile as she shut the door behind her, and she exhaled sharply.

The house was quiet, but she was only at the front of it. She chucked her back and hat to the stairs and wandered through the gym arena to the kitchen. She spotted Volkner lounging alone on his balcony, his eyes distant as he stared up at the pink hue in the sky.

"Where's Flint?" She asked, causing him to stir from his daze.

He looked over his shoulder and fought a scowl; "Gone to fetch our take-away."

She nodded slowly, and stood awkwardly as neither said anything else. He wasn't looking away. If he did she could just walk off. Why was he staring?

She forced some words to her lips; "I'm gonna go for a shower." She jabbed her thumb backwards, and went to turn.

"Wait."

_Now he has something to say. _She mentally sighed. She turned back around still, her face evenly composed.

"I'm sorry for earlier, you took my words the wrong way. I only meant to protect you." He muttered, his eyes attempting to bore a whole into the floor.

Surprised, Besanii tilted her head and then hung it low. "Yeah, I went a little over the top too. Sorry about that."

He accepted her apology with a nod, then started to fumble in his pockets. "I need to give you something too."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," he pulled out something little and concealed it his fist, she stretched her palm under it and felt something light drop onto it. "It's not an official one, it was a prototype when I was designing them, but you still beat me, so..." He trailed off, placing his hand back on his lap.

She looked down to her hand to see a gift box. She peeked up at him as he watched her, and pulled open the lid to reveal a metal plate in the shape of a white arrow with a golden star sat on it's point. It resembled the beacon badge greatly, having clearly been the basic design before coming to a conclusion. It had been cleaned recently, the smears still slowly fading, and the box was brand new.

"Wow." Was all she could struggle out.

"It doesn't count toward the Sinnoh league, but I figured-"

"It still means a lot to me." She whispered, smiling down at it.

"You're welcome then." He muttered, standing and stretching his limbs just for something to do. He hadn't expected a pair of arms to wrap around his torso and a chin to reach up onto his shoulder, but they appeared there as if he'd welcomed her to invade his personal space.

Not that he minded anyway. As awkward as he was about it, he coiled his arms around her arms and chuckled anyway. She pulled away to see she'd left a Besanii shaped sand mark all over him. He looked down and groaned.

"Sorry!" She cackled, skipping off to shower.

He hated the fact that he smiled. He hated the fact that she had the power to make him smile unwillingly. So why did he continue to smile as she disappeared into her room?

* * *

"So what are you up to today, Besanii?" Flint asked politely over breakfast.

"More training with Brawly, we're working on combinations for the secondary rounds." She grinned. It had been a few days of this now, she'd leave all day to train on the beach or when she could, in the gym arena with Brawly, seeing how the Grand Festival was inching closer and closer. Volkner didn't even flinch any more about her using his beach.

Flint nodded repeatedly as he finished his mouthful of peanut-buttered toast. "Well, who are you going to put together?"

Volkner looked up in interest, and Besanii placed a finger on her chin in thought. "I don't know, my pokemon all work so well together! Swampert and Salamence are really good together, because they control the sky and the ground."

"But they're both bulky." Volkner advised. Flint was nodding too.

"Yeah, what if you face some really speedy pokemon? Your strength will be of no use if you can never land a hit." The red-head continued.

She stared at them with wide eyes. "So Weavile and Salamence?"

"Better, Weavile can cover Salamence's weaknesses and vice versa." Volkner shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Flint reminded himself this was a contest; "What about your double appeal?"

Besanii grinned; "Well, Medicham always works wonders with appeals, so I figured putting either Vaporeon or RaiRai with her would be a great idea because we can manipulate the elements with psychic."

Both of the trainers looked impressed, Volkner's eyes as close to sparkling as they were ever going to get at the thought of an almighty thunder attack boosted by psychic power. He voiced his thoughts quickly; "Use RaiRai."

Flint grinned, and looked back to Besanii; "So that leaves Swampert and Vaporeon."

"Major grass weakness." She sighed. "And grass pokemon are really common in contests because they make such beautiful moves."

"Why don't you have any grass pokemon then?" Volkner asked.

She shrugged; "Never been one to conform to a stereotype. Plus I've never really found a grass pokemon who really grabbed my attention."

"I guess." He nodded; "so put your water pokemon as the first battle. You have more chance of meeting a weaker trainer there."

"Coordinator."

"Whatever."

She cast a glare in his direction; "The aren't going to be any weak _coordinators. _They've all got five ribbons. They won them for a reason."

"What I mean is," he defended his statement; "Putting them last means you putting them against the best of the best. They'll be more of a threat to your team. Let Salamence and Weavile work that out."

"So it's settled." She grinned; "Medicham and RaiRai, Vapreon and Swampert, then Weavile and Salamence to finish."

All three of them nodded together in conclusion, and Flint rubbed his eyes mockingly; "I'm so proud of you guys." He soon stopped when he felt Besanii's foot attack his shin. Volkner chuckled, having gotten used to this kind of dispute between them by now. Flint shoved a hand into Besanii's face, engulfing her mouth completely as she squealed underneath. He suddenly recoiled, realising she was licking his palm.

"Ew! Girl cooties!"

Besanii cackled mischievously, standing to wash the dishes. Before she could get halfway a robot had rushed in to stop her and do it instead.

"Remind me how you became Elite?" Volkner rose an eyebrow, earning a glare from his afro'd friend.

Literally saved by the bell, Besanii rushed to the door and called over her shoulder; "I'll see you later guys!"

They both replied with their farewells, and then continued their argument.

* * *

"Oh my days! NOTHING'S WORKING!" She cried, falling to her knees in exasperation and pulling her fingers through her already messy hair. Brawly crouched and patted her shoulder comfortingly as her pokemon circled her, their faces equally as worried, and slightly ashamed.

The surfer looked up and glanced around the team, then back down to her. "Look, acting like this is getting your pokemon upset." He took both of her shoulders and hoisted her up; "Now stand up and think about this. What's going wrong?"

"The teams we picked, none are fitting together..." She smiled weakly at her pokemon in an attempt to comfort them. It didn't work.

"'We' being who?"

"Flint, Volkner and I." She replied, frowning slightly. If a top gym leader -soon to be elitist- and third in the elite four had gotten it wrong, how could she get it right?

Brawly nudged her; "There you go."

"There I go what?"

"They're not your teams. You asked two trainer's for advice, and they gave you solid advice for a trainer, but not for a coordinator." He explained, "So decide on your own."

She looked him in the eye as she saw the truth in his words. Flint and Volkner were only trying to help, and although they were top in their field of expertise, they weren't at all experienced in hers.

"You're right, I need to trust myself."

Her pokemon called their names in agreement, almost cheering her on. They already trusted her completely.

It didn't matter about type advantages, or battle stats. It was about how she used her pokemon to her advantage, and how they worked together.

She eyed her largest pokemon, Salamence, who was by far the strongest of her team. He would definitely be in the finals team.

"Salamence, fly."

He nodded and spread his wings over his partners, beating down once to soar high in the air. She'd said about Swampert before, and her heart was telling her to try it again. Her eyes settled on the water pokemon, who nodded eagerly. "Surf." She smiled, and her mud pokemon bounded after Salamence, leaping into the air and summoning a great wave to carry it.

She began to run too, shouting so Salamence could hear her; "Draco Meteor!"

It roared with enthusiasm, summoning a multicoloured glow to it's mouth, and releasing the power in great bursts of light. They cast brilliant colours as they hit the water trailing behind Swampert, and as the water type crashed to the floor, the water following it exploded sending glittery water droplets everywhere like brilliant rain.

"Wow. You know, you might just have this in the bag."

She beamed, turning to see Brawly had followed her the whole way. He placed an arm over her shoulder, still staring at the remaining glitter as the two pokemon chattered in excitement.

And with his words, she thoroughly believed she might actually win.

* * *

**Can't. Stop. Writing. This. DX  
Should. Be. Writing. Other. Stuff!**

**Okay I'll stop with the full stops now.  
Bit of a filler chapter, but hey. It's gotta build up some how, right? 8D**

**And of course another BesaniixVolkie moment for you. I'm so proud of myself for breaking my 'holding-off-the-inevitable-first-kiss' streak. It's absolute torture for me! It usually takes me three chapters before I explode. And I'm on twelve now! 8D**

**Oh and Sa-Chan's version of the last chapter is so much better than my chapter. XD  
"Scarlett is supposed to pop out of nowhere and start wolf whistling. And she'll most likely have dragged me along, where I'll be giggling, and trying to shush her."  
Lololol. Only you're in Johto babes. **

**Reviews make my heart go Maliboom-boom!  
**


	13. Hormones

"Electivire, earthquake. Jolteon, quick attack past the cracks!"

With Brawly visiting his cousin in Veilstone City, Besanii had resorted to watching Volkner's training session out of pure boredom. Her pokemon were exhausted from the continuous training she'd been putting them through, so she didn't have any of them there to entertain her as they rested. Flint was out doing Flint things that she'd rather not be a part of, and Volkner was obviously far to busy to take her somewhere.

She sighed, her cheek pressing onto the cold barrier as her arms dangled over them. His training was so boring; nothing sparkled, nothing was pretty, no combinations and his Raichu was in desperate need of a good grooming.

Even her thoughts sounded boring. _A Raichu's fur crackles with electricity, and if they store too much, they get grumpy. Grooming allows more contuctivity. _

_Wow, you've truly out-dorked yourself there, Besanii. Booooorrrrrred. _

Volkner couldn't help but notice the vacant expression on her face and smirk. "Why don't you go shopping?"

Her eyes lazily rolled to look at him; "Because I have nothing to shop for."

"Why does that matter?" He queried, tilting his head slightly; "Don't you girls go shopping for the hell of it?"

Her face slid off the bar and she stood up to lean on it; "Yes, but that's when we have _friends_ to go with us so we can talk."

He saw the hint easily, his mind rang out the alarm, reminding him of the last traumatic shopping trip with her. However, the irrational part of his brain that he had ignored the majority of his life suddenly spoke up confidently. This was prime time to be alone with her, this gave him ample opportunity to show her he wasn't the 'boring old fart' (as Besanii had put it) who did nothing but work. And Brawly wasn't around to get in the way. Bonus.

"Fine, my pokemon deserve a rest anyway."

His team stared at him with wide eyes. Surely this was not their trainer?

Even Besanii, who hadn't known him half as long as his pokemon had, was surprised at his change of heart. "Really?" Her voice was an octave higher, almost piercingly surprised.

"Well sure, you're bored, I'm bored, our pokemon are tired, why not?" He shrugged as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. His Luxray was in such shock it had to sniff him to be sure it was him and not an imposter.

Besanii grinned; "Great! You get your pokemon sorted, I'll go get changed."

He was going to tell her she looked fine in her plain jeans and plain t-shirt, but knew better than to question her. He bit his lip and shook his head as he began to recall his team one at a time. It was no use rushing, he'd be waiting a while anyway.

* * *

After 10 minutes of emptying her bag, she'd settled for her red jeans and a white baggy t-shirt that fell off one of her shoulders. It had the pattern of a Togepi egg all over, and of course, she place her beacon badge at the top. She hadn't stopped wearing it since the day he'd given it her. She jogged down the stairs and pulled on her white hi-tops, grinning to Volkner who was trying not to smirk himself. So as not to show he was losing that battle, he turned and strode out of the door.

"So where do you want to go?" He asked as she skipped to keep up with his long-legged stride.

She didn't reply for a long while, as they headed for the market-area. Until finally her eyes rested on a glass booth with a man in white stood behind. "I want ice cream!"

He took the top half of her arm and pulled her so she didn't head in his direction, and she pouted playfully at being stopped. "Let's go to the ice-cream parlour then. We've got loads of time."

Her face lit up in excitement, and she followed him eagerly through the streets, far too happy to notice all of the stares they received. It was still an unusual sight for the people of Sunyshore to see their gym leader, but a few were confident enough to say hello as he passed them, to which he replied politely. Besanii simply flashed a light smile in their direction and continued to scan the area for this parlour.

Finally, after twenty minutes of walking through the 'ridiculously large city' (the small town girl had been complaining of the journey for the last half of it), they reached a quieter area further away from the beach with tiny quaint shops and cafés dotted between them. It was obvious Volkner knew the place well, and the place knew him too, many of the people smiling at him and a waitress even waved as she wiped off an outdoor table.

"Do you come here often?" Besanii asked, watching as the waitress continued to stare in their direction.

Volkner nodded, still walking straight ahead down a small -but not scary in the slightest- alleyway. "I used to come here as a kid with Flint when he was around, my parents owned a shop here when I was young."

"But they don't anymore?"

"They still own the shop, but they moved to Johto for the sun." He shrugged; "Somehow the hottest city in Sinnoh wasn't hot enough for them."

They turned up in another little area of the city that looked extremely fresh and yet old-fashioned at the same time. The shop fronts were large panelled glass, every one framed by beautiful flowers. The cobbles were a terracotta colour, and clearly no cars passed over them. In the middle of the square of the shops was a sitting area, where a few people were having tea and chatting quietly. They were boxed in with an intricate metal frame that had been painted white, and each corner had a bush with white roses sitting daintily between the leaves. Each of the tables had a white parasol to shade them from the glorious sunlight that could be all to blinding.

All Besanii could say was; "Wow..."

"This is the oldest area of the city, back when it was a small town." He informed her, steering her toward one particular shop; the parlour. The outside was painted a light pink, and the glass had beautiful scribed lettering saying; "Glaceon Sundaes".

Inside was just as glamorous, with high white bar stools surrounding tall silver tables and light pink walls. Along one of the walls were several booths with pink cushioned benches and silver tables between two benches facing each other. The whole room was tied together with black and white checked flooring and a small border around the middle of the walls to match. The end of the room was lined with a long bar, the top completely made of glass while the sides were the light pink colour. As they approached, they could see that under the glass was a huge selection of ice-creams, the flavours ordered in the colours of a rainbow. On the table behind the counter, there were desert bowls of different sizes, a drinks machine and an amazing variety of toppings.

Besanii's eyes watered at the beauty of it, and her mouth did too.

"Hello! May I help you?"

They both looked up to a pretty girl who had just entered. She was a little older than Volkner, who had short aqua blue hair jelled in finger waves. Her eyelashes were thick and black, framing her shocking blue eyes, and her make-up was almost doll-like. Her uniform was a light pink shirt with a black pencil skirt and a black and white check apron.

Besanii grinned; "yes please!"

"What would you like?" The girl said.

Volkner and Besanii looked to each other and both shrugged at the same time. Then they both laughed at each other.

"I have just the thing, take a seat and I'll bring you a surprise."

The two nodded and wandered to the seats closest, after a long complaining session from Besanii who wanted to sit by the window in the sun.

"Want to get pap'd again, Besanii?" Volkner growled, but not very seriously. Nonetheless, it was enough for Besanii to give in and sit opposite each other in a pink booth. A few other customers glanced at them, but other than that she felt like a normal person again, a relatively unknown stranger visiting a shop.

She sighed in content as she leant back on the comfortable bench; "Well, this is nice."

"You haven't even had any ice-cream yet." He smirked.

She grinned back at him; "No, I meant you and me spending some time together."

He rose an eyebrow. "Didn't think you wanted alone time with me."

"Don't get big-headed now, you're loving it as much as I am." She teased, causing him to chuckle.

The waitress wandered over with a huge bowl that they could only describe the as the bottom of a Goldeen bowl. She set it down, and it was filled to the brim with scoops of icecream, each different flavours. On top, there were sprinkles all over, and wafers sticking out around the edges. To their surprise, the wafers were in the shape of love hearts, and the spoon ends were too.

They glanced at each other, their eyes sparkling with humour as they laughed awkwardly.

"On the house." The waitress winked to Besanii, and then wandered off before they could answer. She didn't even see Besanii turn bright red in embarrassment.

"Well I guess that's what it looks like..." Volkner chuckled.

"Me and Flint get it all the time." Besanii spoke at the same time. They both paused to listen to each other, and then laughed because they'd gone quiet.

"Right, better milk this then..." She grinned, taking a spoon and scooping up a yellow coloured ice-cream, shoving it into Volkner's face. "Open up, _dear_."

He didn't. Instead he shook his head and lifted his own spoon. She pouted and ate her spoonful herself.

"So..." He forced as soon as he'd finished his first mouthful; "how's you and Brawly?"

She smirked slightly, though her eyes weren't sparkling with humour, but with scepticism. "You don't want to talk about him."

It wasn't a question, so he didn't answer.

"Tell me about you." She pushed.

"What about me?"

"Any siblings?" She suggested.

He shook his head; "Nope."

She smiled as she pulled a wafer out of the ice-cream and munched on it. "You're an only child, no wonder you're so quiet."

"So are you." He accused, pointing his spoon at her.

"I had Flint."

"So did I."

She gave up with that conversation, seeing how it wasn't going anywhere. She spent a moment eating some more of the nanab berry scoop she'd found delicious.

"Who was your first pokemon?" She tried.

"Pikachu, who's now Raichu, of course." He said. She watched as his eyes sparkled. It was almost mesmerizing because it was so rare; the life that came into his expression.

"Something we have in common." She managed to reply, having managed to rip herself from his gaze and look down at the ice-cream.

He nodded; "I remember my first battle, the power in the thunderbolt I'd commanded. That kind of power shouldn't be able to be controlled, and yet certain pokemon can. I think I realised that was the kind of power I wanted to use."

"Wow." She blinked, not noticing as a small amount of icecream had dripped off her spoon as she watched him burn with passion. He shook his head, seeming to snap out of it, but it had left him in an oddly good mood, and he laughed at the mess she'd made.

"Sorry, went a little overboard there with the sentimental moment." He coughed awkwardly, but she placed a hand on his and shook her head.

"No, it was nice to see the old Volkner that Flint bangs on about." She smiled gently, patting his hand.

He turned scarlet. "Yeah... He's in there somewhere."

"Well," she continued with her wafer. "I like this Volkner too. We get on very well."

"We do?"

She nodded; "Yeah, and old Volkner reminds me of Flint. I don't think I could handle two Flints all the time."

He laughed at that.

"So where do you want to go after this?" He asked. "Still want to shop?"

She shook her head, to his surprise. "Can't we go to the lighthouse? We haven't been since we first met!"

He looked down at his hand to see she still had hers resting on it. His initial reaction to slip away, but the softness of her palm on the upper half of his hand was too comforting to rip himself away from. The smirk on his face turned to a smile. (Something she'd been making him do a lot recently), "Sure."

* * *

"Wow." She reached the barrier and admired the view.

He was pleased she gave the same reaction he always felt when he reached the top. "Never get's boring, does it?"

"Never." She agreed.

"Did you bring your camera?" He asked.

She replied by pulling it out of her bag and wiggling it in his face. She didn't expect him to snatch it off her and turn it on. She cringed at the thought of him taking photos of her, but to her relief, he simply started taking pictures of the scenery. So she turned back to take in the beautiful view, now vastly different from the last time because of the daylight. Wingull crowed their names as they flew in the distance, and on the public beach a man was playing with his Houndoom. Looking straight down, she could see the market, and the tiny dots zipping about as if they had no time left at all, but by the angle of the sun, they still had a large portion of the afternoon left.

"I could get used to this." She sighed, revelling in the way the breeze brushed cool air past her face and in her hair. The sun was beating down on her, tickling her skin with gentle heat. In the distance, she spotted a large Wailord fin as it was in the midst of taking a dive. It rose slowly in the air, hovered, and then beat down at the water, leaving nothing but a large spash in its wake.

"Did you see that!" She squealed, almost bouncing off the lighthouse. "It was absolutely amazing!"

"I caught it." He replied, and the back of her camera came into view. She stopped bouncing and looked to see he'd caught it as it was lifting, and as it came down.

She beamed; "Oh wow! You're a genius!"

"I try."

She turned to hug him, the camera still in her hands. It was a lot easier for her than the last time, because he'd expected it. So his arms were already waiting to stop her from falling over her.

"Thank you so much!"

"It's only a photo." He chuckled.

She shook her head gently, pulling away to look him in the eye and thank him genuinely; "Not just that, for today. It's been so nice."

The fierce, yet somehow gentle look in her green eyes sent shivers down his spine. He tried to control it, but it made his body far too tense. He covered up by replying to her; "You're welcome."

Damn it was hard. He wanted desperately to thank her too, in a way without words. He wanted to make use of this fantastic scenery that had wooed her so perfectly, to show her he wasn't boring. It was only sheer force of will, and his mind screaming 'noooooo!' that held him back while his instincts battered uselessly against his body.

It wasn't easy for her either. The sudden pull between them was no one-way thing. She rocked on her tip-toes and managed to take a step back. So much said no in her mind; she'd said so many times to Flint that Volkner wasn't right for her. She'd convinced herself that he found her a nuisance that he only put up with because he entertained his boredom. But most of all, she had to remind herself of Brawly, who'd been dating her for a few weeks now, surely she couldn't forget him.

So why did so much of her want to give in?

"We... Should go fetch our pokemon. They should be all rested up by now." She managed to force conversation, making a pitiful excuse to leave this awkward moment.

He coughed, scratching his head too and already turning for the elevator. "Yeah, Flint will be wondering where we are."

She hummed in agreement, and groaned silently at the thought of having to share the elevator with him. Alone.

He turned his back to her, being purposefully slow as he concentrated on every button her pressed. It allowed him time to shoo away the ridiculous amount of hormones that had threatened to take over his calm demeanor.

Both were vibrantly aware of the other, knowing very well that they'd shared the same feelings and urges. Both ignored it too, feigning the blissful ignorance they longed to have for real.

"Shall we get a Pizza for dinner?" Volkner made conversation.

"Yeah, I'll go fetch it, if you want to get home." She replied. Anything to get away from him. _That's really sad... _She thought, how quickly things had turned.

They reached the bottom of the elevator, having used the topic of which pizza topping as their excuse to not talk about what had just happened between them.

"I'll see you later then." She said quickly, turning to power walk for the Pizzeria.

"Yep." Was all he said in reply, practically sprinting for home.

He slammed the door shut and ran for the stairs.

"Volk?" Flint poked his head around the door. "What's wrong? Where's Besanii? Is she okay?" He said, suddenly getting panicked by the urgentness of Volkner's entrance.

"Yeah fine. Getting Pizza." The blond assured his friend and continued up the stairs. He was in desperate need of a cold shower.

* * *

**I aim to please my reviewers, so "No Brawly, Volknerrrr!" Was what I gave. **

**I'm so proud of myself. I'm holding this first kiss off so well. Believe me, it's killing me as much as it's killing you. XD**

**Yay ice-cream. Written because of my personal cravings when I started this chapter. It didn't satisfy. **


	14. Stare Down

**Remedy Trailer on Youtube! (watch?v=qDxndOkA28E)**

* * *

She tiptoed her way across the park, illuminated with very little. Her breathing was ragged, and white mist left her mouth. It was cold. Her arms hugged around her ridiculously under-dressed body as she frantically attempted to trap heat in. Nobody was around her, no sound or sight of pokemon anywhere. Just a sea of darkness and grass beneath her feat.

But she kept looking around, as if she could feel something behind her, brushing her back and making her shudder.

Just as she turned back, she came face to face with a hooded figure that wasn't in there moments before. She recoiled and screamed, but only to trip over something else. She scrambled, her breathing fast but not enough for her to scream. The figure drew closer, the sleeve reaching forward but jolting back. She was lifted into thin air, and struggle as she may, nothing seemed to free her.

Looking around the grass was no longer a sea of green anymore, as hands began clawing their way out. Creatures drew closer, their growls being evidence to their life despite looking like they'd been dead for years.

But she woke up before one could bite her.

Panicked, she slipped out of bed and began to run down her stairs for a glass of water. It was just a nightmare. It's all just a dream. It happens...

She shuffled for the kitchen, and tipped a glass under the tap.

It didn't get chance to fill as a hand wrapped around her throat and she was tugged backwards. The glass smashed.

* * *

Flint and Besanii screamed loudly together, tucked underneath a blanket as they cuddled close to one another on the sofa. Volkner glared over to them in disapproval.

"I told you I don't do scary films!" Besanii wailed, hiding her head under the blanket and shuddering violently.

"You've got to be kidding." Volkner snorted; "This is mild!"

"I still won't sleep for a week." She snapped back, though her voice was too quiet and muffled by blankets to be threatening.

The blond flicked over to a different TV channel and found the news instead. Both Flint and Besanii peeked over the blanket and sighed with relief.

"Wow, the still haven't gotten over the fact you're becoming an Elite!" Flint rose his eyebrows, but then frowned at the heading on the screen.

Besanii did too; "That's disgusting. Of course you're the right person for the job."

Considering the news was about Volkner, he didn't seem too bothered by it; "It's their job to get good stories, who am I to begrudge them?"

"A human being. They have no right to put you down like this. It's disgusting!" She repeated her disliking for the effect.

Flint smiled and ruffled at her hair gently; "Volk's never been one to care about what people say."

"Will you stop calling me that!"

"Bertha and Cynthia both agreed he was right for the job, and Lucian and Aaron did too. I, of course, was too bias to have a say in it all." Flint chuckled, glancing over to his blond friend, who wasn't smiling, but humour, gratefulness and a hit of annoyance from his nickname still shone in his eyes.

She curled up closer to her brother and sighed. "It still doesn't justify this."

"Besanii."

She looked up at her name, Volkner was staring at her.

"I'm fine. Don't worry."

She stared at him until she was satisfied that he was telling the truth, then looked away and yawned. "Whatever. I'm going to bed." She shrugged.

Flint chucked. "Sure you're gonna sleep, Bee?"

"No, but I'm tired so I'm going to bed." She stood and stretched. Once she'd said her farewells, she tripped up the stairs sleepily.

They listened intently as they heard water running, and once content she couldn't hear, Flint smirked in Volkner's direction.

"So what did you two do today?" His eyes twinkled with ideas he'd pieced together already.

Volkner glared over to him. "Nothing. We got ice-cream."

"So why do you look so angry about that?" The red-head pressed.

His friend was not impressed. He stood and made for the kitchen, his robot pestering him as he walked.

"Well it looks to me like something happened." Flint wasn't one to give up, of course. Volkner groaned as he pulled out the milk from the fridge and just drank from the carton.

Flint grinned; "Something did! Didn't it?"

"No."

"You've got that look in your eye, Volk."

"Stop calling me that!" The blond side-tracked, then shook his head and turned back; "nothing happened. I wouldn't put her in that situation."

Seeing the implications of Volkner's words, Flint eyes twinkled mischievously as he pressed the issue even further. "But something could have happened?"

"Maybe." The gym leader shrugged carelessly, placing the milk back. "Why am I telling you this anyway?"

"Because you love me?"

"That's debatable." Volkner retorted without hesitation.

* * *

"It was weird Flint. I don't know what to think." Besanii sighed, throwing herself onto the bed face down. RaiRai patted her head in an attempt to be comforting. It didn't work, but she appreciated her little pokemon trying, despite it's static fur making her hair stand on end.

Flint, who was enjoying this predicament far more than a best friend -slash- brother should, sat on the edge of the bed and stroked her hair flat again.

"Well, what are you feeling?" He chuckled to himself, realising how girly he sounded.

She lifted her head from the pillow, though it did little to fix her muffled voice. "Confused."

"Because?"

She rolled onto her back and stared at him. He was cuddling a pillow and smiling hopefully at her. Unfortunately for him, she couldn't deliver what he wanted to hear. "Because of Brawly."

"Well, you can't leave him in the dark." Flint mused.

"There's no light to lead him into." She insisted; "Nothing happened. Nothing is going to happen. I'm confused because I clearly can't be around Volkner any more while I'm dating Brawly."

Flint was surprised by this turn of events, he turned to face her head on; "So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying, I'm going to go stay somewhere else." She whispered, peeking to RaiRai, who had already discussed (as best possible with a limited vocabulary) with her.

Flint leapt up from the bed; "What?"

Besanii jumped at his sudden movement and stared at him with wide eyes.

"You can't be serious?"

"Of course I am." She said incredulously; "I think I might get my own place for a little while. I saw some really nice apartments in the old part of Sunyshore and it would be an amazing place to come back to from time to time after the grand festival. And you could use it when you're here to see Volkner..." She droned off as Flint began pacing the room frantically.

"The closer he gets to you the further he drives you away!" Flint muttered, waving his arms frantically.

"This isn't just about Volkner, Flint! I just... I just need some of my own space." She explained, emphasizing the last part.

"Oooooh..." Flint clicked onto her meaning and flushed deep red in the face. "You and Brawly want to get it ooooon!"

"No!" Besanii squealed, blushing in embarrassment.

"Yeah you do!" Flint grinned, only to recieve a pillow to the face. He stopped laughing the moment it hit, and froze there for a second.

Besanii gasped, knowing what his freeze up meant. "No please don't! Noooo!"

He pounced, pinning her to the bed by sitting across her and gripping her sides, squeezing them to the point where her body convulsed under the rough tickling. She squealed even louder, kicking and flailing in an attempt to throw him off her.

It wasn't long until the door slammed open.

The two siblings froze, snapping their heads in the direction of the door. Volkner's face was thunderous (no pun intended, whatsoever) and tired.

Nobody spoke for at least thirty seconds. Until Volkner shook his head from his daze and turned away; "I don't even want to know."

Besanii booted Flint off her while she had the chance, and scrambled off the bed, practically parallel to the floor as her feet clattered along the floor toward the door.

"Volk?"

"Not you too." The grumpy and tired gym leader groaned as he shuffled back for his bedroom.

She giggled, still tripping over a little as he stomped into his bedroom. "Sorry about waking you."

"Mmm..." He grunted as he slipped back into his bed. She lingered inside his room slightly, glancing around and was pleased that he'd kept everything neat and tidy after she'd organised it all.

"It wasn't what it looked like." She assured him, though her voice droned off awkwardly.

All she got in return was another grunt.

"Did you talk to Flint?" She breathed, glancing over her shoulder to check he wasn't behind her. He'd stayed in his bedroom.

Volkner sighed; "I talk to him a lot, actually."

"Don't be facetious." She rolled eyes back at him, but he wasn't watching, his eyes were closed. He didn't reply. "Volkner?" She pressed.

"Besanii." He said rather sharply. She started as he snapped one eye open to look at her. When she didn't answer, he closed it again. "Go to bed."

She inhaled and hopped on the spot. "Sorry, I didn't realise you were tired."

"I'm in bed."

"And?"

"So I'm tired."

"Oh." She glanced at the floor. When she didn't move, Volkner rolled over.

"Besanii."

"Yeah?"

"Go."

She did as she was told, disappearing without another word. Not wanting to go back to Flint to be interrogated, she stopped and slid down the wall between the bedroom doors, her hear smacking against it once she sat to the floor.

"What am I going to do?" She muttered to herself, rubbing her hands together absently.

"Do about what?"

She looked up to see Volkner had followed her. Her face flushed bright red.

"You didn't say good night." He muttered, crouching down to her level.

Her face was rapidly heating up, especially when he scrutinised her so closely. "Oh, sorry." She whispered. "Good night."

"You didn't answer my question." He frowned.

She pursed her lips, not wanting to talk about it at all, let alone to the centre of the problem.

"You can talk to me." He muttered.

With a glance over her shoulder, she assured herself Flint would have passed out by now. He wouldn't be able to gang up against her in this situation.

"I'm thinking about getting my own place." She smiled weakly.

"Oh." He blinked, completely taken off guard and surprised. "Is there something wrong here?"

"No no!" She nearly raised her voice, and they both looked to the guest bedroom door. Nothing would rouse the roaring red-haired beast anyway.

She turned back to him to continue; "I just want a little space."

Being the composed gym leader that he was, he kept his face straight like a master. However, the flash of hurt in his eye could not be kept back. Besanii did not fail to notice it, and although it pained her to do so, she ignored it and continued.

"I don't want to outstay my welcome here." She insisted.

He scowled and groaned; "You know that isn't a problem."

"You say that now but when Flint's gone it's going to be you, me and Brawly. It's just best I get my own place. I'm not going to be far." She tried her best to convince him, but he was too busy frowning when she mentioned the one person he wasn't a big fan of.

"Sorry..." She whispered, seeing him lower his head. "I know you don't like him..."

He chuckled darkly; "I don't hate him."

She looked up stare him in the eye. "Then what-" She paused when he shook his head, but he didn't say anything.

_Oh my days_... She inhaled sharply as she realised what he was aiming at. "No, Volkner." She muttered, her eyes downcast to her fingers as she slid back up the wall to stand up. She was about to retreat back to the guest bedroom when his forearm pressed against the wall to block her.

"No what?" He was toying with her. The twinkle of mischief in his eye was as inconspicuous as a Chatot in a Library.

She stared him down, refusing to back down from their confrontation. Nobody out-stubborned Besanii. So he eventually took a step back.

"Good night." She said calmly, though she could feel herself shaking inside.

He nodded; "g'night."

She slipped into the guest bedroom without looking back. Flint was, as she had expected, out like a light. She slipped around to her side of the bed without so much as a stir from him, and faced away. She needed to move as soon as possible, she realised as she unconsciously let confused tears roll down her cheek.

* * *

**I frequently read my birthday 'fic back to make this as close as possible to it, and I realised Besanii had her own place by the prequel, so that was the reason for this turn of events. **

**Lol, if this seems totally unrealistic, I can assure you this is written with influences of my personal life, so yeah. **

**Reviews pretty pretty please! I know people are reading this, I get alerts and allsorts, so it would be really nice to hear what you think in words! :)**


	15. Hypocrite

"Morning..."

Volkner glanced up at the groggy, uncaffeinated Flint who was shuffling for the coffee pot, his hands grasping desperately at the air.

"She still in bed?" The blond asked, smirking in amusement.

Flint frowned; "She never came back, I figured she'd stayed with you."

They stared at each other a little while, both frowning in thought as they realised that if she hadn't ended up in either room, she hadn't gone to bed at all.

At the same moment, they both leapt from where they sat and began searching around the house for signs of her.

* * *

"This one has on ocean view, as well as only ten minutes from the market." The smart-looking woman informed her as Besanii's pink Vaporeon slipped around, scrutinising the potential new home.

Besanii, who had been awake since the early hours, wandered to the French windows and stared for a little while over the sea view.

This place would have been her dream home only a few weeks ago. However, it wasn't calling to her now. She couldn't quite understand it, but she figured it was because she'd spent so long by a beach. She got bored very easily.

"Do you have anything in the older district?" She turned her back on the beautiful view. The woman looked a little shocked, clearly nobody had turned down an apartment like this without careful consideration.

Still, the woman flicked through her notes and smiled. "Yes, actually."

* * *

"Is she in the en suite?"

"What, all night?" Flint snapped, suddenly very worried, though he knew he shouldn't be.

They had been in every room. She wasn't there.

"She's probably gone out." The redhead told himself, failing to calm down in the slightest.

Volkner nodded too; "She probably slept on the sofa..."

"Yeah."

The two stared at each other uneasily, both unsure of what had happened. It was very unlike Besanii to not sleep through the night soundly, and she usually told one of them where she was going so they knew how to find her if anything happened. Still, her large bag of necessities were in the guest bedroom still, so they knew she hadn't left without a word. There was no way she'd leave without her favourite shoes.

"I'm gonna go train then..." Volkner muttered, and although this was his usual routine, it felt odd without being properly awoken by her annoyingly high-pitched 'morniiiiiiing!' ringing through the house.

"Kay." Flint too was feeling a little lost, he'd gotten used to being joined at the hip with Besanii again after a year of being apart whilst she travelled. He couldn't help but wonder over her words from the night before, and he was pretty sure as to where she was once he reminded himself of her thoughts.

* * *

She sighed as she shifted her weight around, lying gently against her Salamence, who was content in curling himself around her with his enormous tail and long neck. RaiRai had somehow managed to squeeze itself onto her lap too, as her other pokemon got on with whatever it was they wanted to do in and around the large pokemon centre pool.

"Besanii?"

She looked up at her name, and immediately smiled as Brawly hurried over, unable to hug her due to the intimidating dragon type in the way. Salamence grumbled and slid his tail aside for the gym trainer it had come to like.

"Hey." She smiled weakly as he sat beside her and hesitantly leaned on Salamence too.

He wrapped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her into him, making note of how stiff she was as she literally fell against him with little control at all.

"Are you okay?" He asked, not failing to notice her lack of enthusiasm for his return after two weeks of absence.

"I'm fine thank you." She replied quickly; "I'm glad to see you." She managed to put on a more convincing smile, and kissed him gently.

Unfortunately, he wasn't about to forget what he'd observed. "What's wrong? What's happened?"

She glanced down at her lap; "I'm just tired. I've been home hunting?"

That he hadn't expected. He blinked and raised his eyebrows; "Really?"

"Yeah," she nodded a little more enthusiastically; "I've brought a place too."

More surprise hit him; "Already?"

"Well... I had enough money to put a deposit on it from all of my battles and little contests. Hopefully, if I win the Grand Festival I'll be able to buy it fully. If not... I'll stop travelling and get a job."

"In Sunyshore?"

She frowned, unsure why this question had been asked; "Well yeah."

"And you're staying."

"Umm..." She couldn't understand this turn of events, he'd begun to cheer up, now she was just confused.

He stood abruptly, taking her hands and pulling her up with him. "Don't get it."

"What?" She blinked in surprise, watching as a plan began to light up in his eyes.

"Don't get the house, come to Dewford. You won't have to pay anything, I'll take care of you." He began babbling, and she was too shocked to interupt for a little while until she realised what he was asking of her.

"You want me to move in with you?" She couldn't wrap her head around it; "But Brawly... We've been dating little over a month!"

He shrugged; "I don't see a problem with it, I really like you Besanii, and I have to leave soon. So come with me."

"I don't know..." She blinked furiously at the floor. "I have the Grand Festival soon..."

"Don't worry about it!" He grinned; "You won't need the money Besanii. I'll look after you."

Like a switch, she went from confused to suddenly angry. "What? You think this is about the money?" Her voice raised in pitched, and his excitement diminished rapidly at her tone.

"No I-"

"I'm doing this for me and my pokemon, not for the money." She growled.

"I didn't mean it like that." He tried to say calmly, but her expression was not impressed, so his voice droned off. Even Salamence had started growling lowly, and her other pokemon had gathered to see why she was suddenly angry.

"I thought you were different to most trainers, I thought you understood what coordinators do is just as hard as gym battles." She accused.

"I do!" He didn't hesitate to deny it, but she was far too vexed to be fair and believe him.

"Whatever. You're all the same, you gym leaders." She snapped, shoving past him. He managed to catch her wrist and tug her to face him.

It didn't take him long to make the leap. "Is this about Volkner?"

She tried to wriggle away uncomfortably. "No."

"Is this why you want to move?"

He was being far too observant for her liking, she squirmed uncomfortably. "No!"

"What's he done to you?" He tried to pull her in, but she was reluctant and pulled away.

"Let me go!"

Swampert stepped between them, causing Brawly to recoil away as it glared threateningly at him.

"I think you should leave." She muttered, patting her water-ground type to calm it. It did so quickly at her touch.

He frowned, not moving from where he stood. "What, that's it?"

"You heard me."

He went to walk, but stopped and looked at her; "But my pokemon are here."

"Guys!" She raised her voice, pulling out five of her pokeballs. She returned all of them bar Swampert, who apparently needed to calm down a little more before confining itself into it's usual home. With little more than a quick glance, she walked out of the pokemon center. Her only words were her thanks to Nurse Joy.

_What a jerk. Always the same. Stupid trainers think they're better than us. I'll show them all. My team would scare the hell out of any trainer. Even Flint! I should talk to Cynthia, I bet she got a lot of crap for being a girl... _

Her mental rant came to a halt when she realised she was wandering toward the beach. She really didn't want to go there, it was where all the people who knew her expected her to be. She didn't want to see anyone while she fumed.

So her eyes flicked around to see where she could go, and they settled on the lighthouse. She wouldn't be able to go up the top floor, but maybe the civilian floor would be nice, different even.

...

It wasn't. Her shoulders slumped as she realised being halfway down the lighthouse meant the view was half as good. She couldn't see the pokemon league, and she could barely see past the monstrously tall trees that surrounded Sunyshore.

She sighed and slumped in onto the hard wooden bench that had been unoccupied before she landed upon it. People glanced at her sideways, and looked away politely as she scowled at the inferior view. Tourists and families passed, mothers scolding their children for getting too close to the edge and photographers exclaiming at the magnificent vicinity. Little did they know that the purple-haired, sulking girl behind them had a much better picture of the view than they could dream of.

Later into the day, it was no longer a tourist spot, but a place of romance. She groaned internally at the sound of a girl giggling as the gentle kissing noises from not too far away from her. She didn't look around, and instead focussed intently on the sun setting. Even it#s beauty couldn't prize her away from the twisting feeling of envy in her stomach for the love birds around the corner.

"There you are."

She looked around, and nobody but the couple - who were anything but focussing on the loner in the corner - were around. The voice had to have come from somewhere, so she continued to look, her eyes finally looking up (as stupid as she had initially thought it would be) and landed on the offender.

Volkner was hanging his head over the balcony of his floor, his face turning flush red as the blood ran down.

"What are you doing?" She stood up quickly, ready to catch him should he slip. "Get away from the edge!" She hissed.

Still, his reddened face continued to hang as he smirked; "Why?"

She shook her head, refusing to bless him with the obvious answer. So instead, he disappeared, and his feet appeared instead. Not as if he were sitting down and they were hanging, no. His toes were facing her and rapidly declining. Not so much to be falling, but enough to know that only his hands kept him from doing so.

"Volkner no!" She warned, but he continued to slid down until his face appeared once again, and he was hanging by his hands off the balcony. Using little strength at all, he swung his legs and timed his letting go of the upper balcony so he fell forward and landed neatly on her level.

Meanwhile, Besanii had burst into a blind panic, completely distracted from her previous problems by this life-threatening one that had brought her to the brink of tears.

She ran forward, her fingers pulling at her hair as she seethed and hit him. Hard.

"Don't. You. Dare. Do. That. Again!" Each word was accentuated by another fisted thump to his chest, he simply laughed at her feeble attempt to knock the wind out of him. The couple stared wide eyed at them, now heavily focussed on the cussing coordinator, and backing off from her slowly.

"I've felt worse than that today." He caught her wrists to stop her from the violence, and although she struggled, for the first time she looked at his - now no longer red - face. With the blood settling back into his body, there was still a heavy patch under the surface of the skin around his eye. Only it wasn't red, it was the unmistakable black and purple of a fresh bruise.

"What's happened?" Her anger ceasing quickly as she pulled from his grip and ran her light fingers over it gently to check for swelling.

He snorted; "Your beautiful boyfriend paid a visit."

"And punched you?"

Volkner nodded; "Says I've done something to upset you."

She frowned and looked away after satisfied he would heal. "I said nothing of the sort."

"Oh?"

She looked back to him to see his sceptical expression. Just as she was about to question it, he interrupted her instead.

"So why is it, when Flint and I have been looking for you all day, and the Lighthouse receptionist calls to inform me that you're here, does Brawly find me first and hit me without warning? You must have said something to give him the idea that I'd upset you." When she didn't reply again, he frowned; "_Have_ I upset you?" He'd spent his journey to the lighthouse racking his memory for anything he'd done that she hadn't already forgiven him for. The only thing he could think of was that stupid game he'd stupidly played on her the night before whilst being half asleep and therefore dangerously confident. That morning he'd hoped that she would laugh it off like she did with other jokes.

But the problem was it wasn't a joke. Deep in the pit of his stomach, he knew he'd been deadly serious.

"No, you haven't upset me. Brawly did." She admitted.

Out of all of the outcomes he'd ran through in his head, he hadn't predicted this one at all. He could see the hurt in her expression, and sat her down quickly in fear that she would run off.

"What did he do?" His voice serious and business-like, just like when he was talking to his challengers.

She shrugged; "nothing, I guess..."

Volkner inhaled slowly. The female species continued to baffle him, but he had never found any girl quite so challengingly complex as this one.

"Maybe I was being a little melodramatic..." She muttered, watching her hands rub together in patterns as she thought. "Maybe he's right..."

"About?" The gym leader pressed.

"My career. Being a coordinator... It's so shallow and vain. I grew up being taught that it doesn't matter what something looks like, it's the power that makes something beautiful." She thought of Flint telling her this on one of his returns from his journey, he'd met a wise traveller who had really changed his perspective entirely. Little did she know at the time, but she was sitting right next to said wise traveller. Volkner picked up on this too, but said nothing of it, instead he took her shoulder and shook her fiercely. She was about to throw him a 'what the hell do you think you're doing?' glare, but he put a hand up to shut her up.

"Besanii. You should know better to doubt yourself." He looked disappointed in her, but really, a few home truths were hitting him too. All this time, Flint had been telling him becoming part of the Elite four was the right thing to do, but he'd worried it wasn't. He would be a hypocrite if he were to blame Besanii entirely for her thoughts. "You are sure and confident, not to mention ridiculously creative. Coordinating isn't a vanity project, it's art."

She blinked in surprise, and he smirked. "I've been watching you a little, wanted to see why Flint thinks you're so amazing."

It took a few more moments for his words to sink in, but she matched his smirk to retort; "You can't stop looking at me, can you?"

He laughed and looked out at the view, muttering a -not so - sarcastic; "Yeah, you got me."

She smiled to herself too, and then realised she was smiling. The guilt that had slowly poisoned her thoughts throughout her day of scowling at the horizon had diminished the moment that stupid blond spiky hair popped down from the balcony. She could see in her peripherals that he was looking at her, making sure she wasn't still doubting herself. For some reason though, his words had worked. He was exactly who she needed, Flint would have said the same without hesitation, but that's because he would want to make her feel better, not to tell her what he truly believed. Volkner wouldn't have said such things if he didn't think they were true. It made her feel proud, just that small little speech.

"Thank you." She looked to him quickly, watching as he turned red in embarrassment for being caught staring.

"You're welcome." He coughed, desperately trying to ease the tension he'd caused himself, and then they sat there in silence, on the citizen balcony of the lighthouse with the poor view. The couple had since disappeared due to the sudden outburst of a tiny girl and the strange, usually house-bound gym leader leaping from the skies onto their level.

Said strange gym leader knew peace and quiet was what she wanted, just through instinct, but she didn't want to be alone. So silence is what he gave her. He reclined on the uncomfortable bench and left her to her thoughts as he collected his own ones that had scrambled in her presence.

Both were so lost in their own minds that they failed to notice the sun and it's pink trail of sky had disappeared into the horizon and the city lights had thus illuminated where they sat instead. They also failed to notice the elevator working and opening, allowing high pitched taps of footsteps to come closer. It wasn't until somebody spoke did they snap from the thoughts.

"Look what we have here then!"

Their faces drained.

* * *

**And to think I struggled with this chapter. As soon as I put Volkner next to Besanii everything starts being ridiculously easy again, so much so that I have to force myself to stop the chapter so you guys can go for a toilet break or something! XD**

**Thank you for all the reviews! I love how you react to all of this. It really makes me laugh, and I really need some laughs at the moment. :)**


	16. The Wonderful Wizard of Orre

The girl they faced was strikingly beautiful, her bright blue eyes wide and Delcatty-like, framed with flicked eye-liner that only accentuated the shape of them. Her cheek bones were enviously high, and her lips were puckered into the perfect pout, though it was usually seen in the shape of a sneer. Her navy-blue hair was naturally in loose ringlets that framed her face like a doll's would, and her figure was equally as doll-like. Her choice of clothing only accentuated this likeness, a short, sky blue baby-doll dress and white socks and low heeled pumps made her look younger than she actually was. Had the expression on her face not been quite as arrogant, the majority of people who saw her would think she was angelic.

The two who she was talking to at the time, - though for very different reasons, - knew very well that she was far from the angel that she appeared to be.

"Alyssa." Besanii had to refrain herself from spitting the name. Volkner shot her a surprised look when he heard her tone.

"Good to see you, Betty." Alyssa smirked.

Besanii refused to let herself get riled of this persistent attempt of deliberately getting her name wrong to annoy her. Instead, she fought back, girl style. "Finally caught up with me then, or have you come to watch me?"

Alyssa was also brilliant at hiding her annoyance. She pulled on her best poker-face and turned her nose up; "I got my fifth ribbon weeks ago. I just didn't need to rush, I could beat them all after they'd trained hard year-round."

"We'll see." Besanii said mock-politely. They took a moment to glare at each other, like they would before they had battled several times during contests. Each of which Besanii had won with relative ease due to immense preparations and tactics. Alyssa was completely new to training her pokemon at the time, and lacked in the preparation. Still, the rivalry had ignited into bitterness that Besanii did not enjoy feeling, but it was uncontrollable when this blue-haired bitch was around.

Seeing that she wasn't getting anywhere, Alyssa turned to her next victim. Besanii was shocked to see that Volkner tensed under her stare.

The blue-haired beauty sauntered up to him, pushing her chin down and one shoulder up coyly, as if shy. She stopped one stride away from him, and leant forward slightly. "Hey Volkie."

He gulped rather conspicuously as he pulled his neck back to create a distance between their faces. "Hello."

"How have you been?" She asked innocently, though she was revelling in the nervous waves he was radiating out.

"I'm very well thanks." How could his mouth be impossibly dry as well as salivating ridiculous amounts at the same time? At the rate he was sweating, he would dehydrate within the hour. "Are you?"

"Mmm-hmm." She finally stood up straight, allowing him to exhale. She giggled; "I'm good too."

"That's nice." Besanii snapped, taking a step forward, "We'll be seeing you then."

Alyssa seemed bemused by the defensive stance Besanii had taken as things became clear in her mind. "Ahh, I'd heard you were dating Volkie."

"We're not." He muttered, but she was far too amused to listen to the truth. Things were much juicier in her mind, and it would wind the both of them up if she played on it.

"No offence, but you can do better." She smirked as Besanii shuddered in an attempt to hold back the anger. Volkner tensed, ready to catch her if she did take a swipe at her contender. To hit her competition would be seriously bad press, which she didn't need at such a critical time in her career.

Instead, Besanii resorted to insults to make herself feel better; "It's a shame he doesn't want a flat-chested skinny bitch, but you'll just have to continue being jealous."

Alyssa failed to hold back the look of annoyance for a brief moment, and Besanii basked in the cheap glory of it. So she wasn't expecting the retort Alyssa had to fire back.

"Well that's funny... Because I've already had him." Alyssa cackled at the look on both of their faces, then turned for the elevator; "Ciao."

And the beauty of their silence was ruined within one short conversation. They froze looking in the direction Alyssa had been for a little while until Volkner could see Besanii's 'I need answers. NOW' glare.

"She was a lot nicer when we dated." He insisted.

She scoffed; "That's hard to believe."

He didn't reply, instead he headed for the elevator and pressed the button. Besanii picked up her bag and lingered behind him.

"Since when do you know my... preferences in female proportions anyway?" He chuckled.

"Oh Volkner... You honestly thought I never caught you staring?" She rose an eyebrow.

He was thankful he was facing the door to hide his crimson face. "I did actually."

"So naive." She laughed, stepping in the elevator behind him.

Volkner chuckled awkwardly, but glanced over his shoulder to see she wasn't all that bothered. Instead, her mind was already elsewhere, as she'd sobered up. He turned back and ordered the elevator down, and when he looked at her again she was still in her distracted state.

"You should talk to him, you know." He hated to give her such advice, but he knew it would somehow backfire to himself if he didn't.

Her eyes flickered from vacant to aware of him staring at her. She stayed staring back for the remainder of their decent, then looked at the floor as they left the elevator.

"Yeah, I think I need to apologise..." She muttered.

"No-"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to take the blame. Your words haven't been a total waste of breath." She smiled wryly, albeit weakly.

He scrutinised that smile for a moment, but knew better than to question her. "Would you like me to come with you?"

"No thanks. I don't think he'd be happy to see me alone, so definitely not with you." She chuckled, then nudged him with her knuckles; "But thank you. I'll see you later."

He nodded and went to walk away, but then stumbled to a stop as something alerted him in his mind. "You're coming back to the gym?"

"...Yeah."

"But you have a new apartment." He frowned.

She gulped, "you heard about that."

"Brawly was very specific while he punched me in the face." He chuckled.

She winced and then grimaced at the bruise. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be." He shrugged; "But get back soon, Flint nearly pulled out his afro with worry."

She grinned, and Volkner matched it in his own little way. So as not to spoil her with his rare smile, he turned away and headed for the gym.

She watched him a moment before shaking her head and sighing. Break-ups are inevitably awkward, and she found she stuttered heavily as well as sweat profusely in such situations.

The pokemon center was a little way away from the gym, but just around the corner from the lighthouse. She tried to prolong the little journey, but she couldn't convince herself with a good enough reason to run away.

"Welcome to the Pokemon Center, may I help you this evening?" Nurse Joy chimed as cheerfully as ever. Her eyes had been shut due to her wide smile, so she didn't see it was Besanii who had returned.

"Ummm... Yes please. Is Brawly still here?" She wandered up to the counter, frowning as Joy stopped smiling and started shaking her head.

"No sweetie. He left for Hoenn about two hours ago." Her lips downturned, full of regret.

"Oh." Besanii glanced at the floor, slightly shamefaced.

"I'm ever so sorry, I thought you would know." Joy patted Besanii's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

Besanii shrugged; "No, I didn't. No worries though. Thanks anyway." She tried her best to smile, and then turned toward the door.

As much as she'd hoped an excuse to not have to have the awkward break-up conversation, she knew it would have to be done. Now though, half of the people in need of this conversation were absent.

Did she really upset him badly enough to drive him across seas without a goodbye? Did he really not care enough to wait for her to cool down?

Now she felt a little depressed.

_Huh... A little. Today sucks harder than straw with a hole in. _

She found herself at the gym sooner than she realised. A short groan escaped her, but while she was on a role of not intentionally avoiding stuff, she decided she'd have to face Flint sooner or later. She stepped in and seconds later was embraced by Flint's clamping arms.

"Oh Besanii I've missed you, where have you been? What'cha been doooooooing?" His list of questions and statements didn't stop there, but she eventually couldn't take anymore and shrugged him off.

"Get off me Flint."

He fell silent quickly and glanced at the stairs where Volkner was coming from. He did a double take at the blackening bruise under his eye. "Did you hit Volkner?"

"No, Brawly did." The blond informed him, then turned to Besanii. "How did it go?"

"It didn't. He left to Hoenn a few hours ago..." She grumbled, throwing herself across the sofa and face-planted the cushions. She felt two hands on her back, one's thumb rubbing gently at the small of her back, the other moving in small circles on her shoulder-blade.

She heard Flint sigh theatrically, then his stupid voice came booming down to her ears; "Well now you can date Volkner!" His ridiculous statement was shortly followed by a thumping sound and an "Ow!" straight after. The hands on her back felt the weak rumble of laughter coming from her, and she sat up slowly, surrounded by two of her best friends who now had their arms around her.

"I just feel like a complete bitch." She complained.

"As opposed to the half-bitch you are the rest of the time." Flint jibbed. It was followed by another "Ow!" Both Volkner and Besanii were glaring at the redhead, so he shut up and let Volkner have a turn at cheering her up.

"You have done nothing wrong. You stood by your career, I don't see a problem with that, do you Flint?" He looked over Besanii's head to see Flint smirking.

"None." He replied.

She looked to both of them as they smiled at her. It was hard to smile back, but she did so weakly and pulled her knees to her chest. Her chin rested on them idly. "Thanks guys. I think I just need to take my mind of it for now."

Flint perked up; "Let's go clubbing!"

"No." Both Volkner and Besanii chorused, then looked at each other and chuckled.

Flint pouted playfully, then stood up; "Then how 'bout a movie? I'll pop over to the video store and get anything you want Besanii."

"Anything?"

Volkner stiffened at her mischievous voice, alarms ringing in his head, but he was too slow to warn Flint silently.

"Anything." He promised. Volkner face-palmed as Besanii grinned.

"I want the Wizard of Orre!"

Flint stared at her in horror, his mouth dropping open and Volkner shuddered. "You had to let her choose musical bloody theatre, didn't you?"

"No Besanii, please don't make us endure that film." Flint begged.

"But you said anything! I'm really sad and that film makes me happy!" Being the drama-queen she was, she performed admirably as she turned on the water-works on demand, and wobbled her bottom lip in a 'you know you can't resist this' kind of way. Credit where it is due, Flint resisted for a few moments before he cracked and groaned loudly; "Fine. Only because you went through a break up today."

"Ohhh Flint!" Volkner snapped.

She turned her 'can't resist' look to Volkner, who simply stared her down, but couldn't find the will to protest any longer. Flint shook his head and stomped out of the gym.

After a moment of silence, Volkner suddenly chuckled. She turned to look at him and frowned. "You're so manipulative." He said.

She grinned back at him and shrugged; "I'm part Hypno."

Volkner snorted, lacking the enthusiasm to laugh at her weak joke. The silence consumed them again, and they realised how they were sat. The closeness had him tense up in embarrassment, but Besanii simply leant on him, his arm falling limp around her back.

"I've had such a crap day, Volk." She muttered with a heavy sigh. His hum of agreement sounded more like a deep rumbling growl, but she was leant right next to his lungs and voice box.

"Want to train for the Grand Festival tomorrow?" He suggested, in an attempt to cheer her up. She lifted her head to look at him, to see if he was being serious.

When she was convinced there was no signs of doubt on his face, she nodded. "Yes please."

"No problem."

She settled her head back onto his shoulder as he flicked the television on. He channel-surfed until he found the top channel for contest programmes, and coincidentally enough, Besanii's determined face showed up. The programme was reviewing all the potential winners for the Grand Festival that was mere weeks away. Two men and three women were gathered around a wide-screen television as they contemplated Besanii's chances.

Said girl gasped as they debated about her.

_"-the first coordinator ever to have reached the Grand Festival to have taken no losses right from her debut." _The blonde haired female presenter read from her cue card.

The silver haired male nodded furiously in agreement; _"But we can't assume this will be the case at the festival..."_

_"No of course not, but the probability of her going all the way...?" _The presenter asked.

It wasn't the silver haired man who replied, instead a man with aqua-green hair and a beret spoke up. _"Her appeal work is exquisite. I have not seen raw talent from a novice like this in a long time."_

The presenter nodded, grinning; _"There we have it folks, Top Coordinator Wallace; rooting for the Sandgem Sweetheart!"_

Besanii cringed. "Are they really calling me that?"

Volkner was laughing, and completely agreed with her disapproval of this nickname. "They have clearly never met you."

"Hey!" She punched him lightly on his knee, but began listening intently to the other people they were considering. Of course, Alyssa showed up after a few other competitors.

Thankfully, Flint returned before they could watch it, and he sat in the armchair after loading up the film. The music played, and the credits rolled.

_"She isn't coming yet, Toto. Did she hurt you? She tried to, didn't she?"_

_"Toto-totodile!"_

* * *

**Lololololll. I was totally going to use something like Eevee as Toto, but as soon as I ran the name through my head, all I could see was Ash's Totodile jumping around. I couldn't resist. XD**

**Dull chapter is dull. But a filler's a filler. :)**


	17. Invite

Things were only getting worse for her.

Firstly, she was feeling desperately alone. Single once again. Volkner was busy training daily for his promotion, but at least she saw him at night. Flint had to return to the Sinnoh league for pre-league training with the Elite-Four. She was beginning to regret moving into an apartment alone.

Secondly, the Grand Festival was two weeks away, and she'd worn her pokemon out to the point where Nurse Joy had refused to give her them back until they were fully recovered. Her pokemon had protested, but nowhere near as much as Besanii had. She would happily let them rest, but she wanted their company.

Lastly, she was ill. She blamed it on the change in season, and the fact that she too, was worn out. She found herself confined to her bed, switching from the two extremes of boiling hot and freezing cold and to make matters worse she didn't have the energy to pick up the quilt or kick it off, so instead she suffered the heat.

She groaned, feeling completely sorry for herself. She needed to train, but she could barely roll over to check the time to see when Volkner would arrive.

_Should be soon... I think... I hope. _She thought, interrupting herself with a coughing fit. She drifted off to sleep before she could resume her thoughts.

* * *

It was getting relatively exhausting to continue this routine. He glanced down to his Raichu, who sighed and collapsed on the floor it stood on.

"You guys rest up." He muttered; "I have to go check on Besanii." His pokemon mumbled their names in reply, and watched as he left the gym. His eyes were heavy, his head thumped and buzzed in pain everytime a loud noise met his ears. The city was bustling still, but not with the usual tourists here for the sun and beach. Instead, they were here for the Grand Festival, which was growing nearer day by day. They chattered excitedly, buying seals and other coordinator essentials.

He stopped by at the cafe and brought soup, knowing fully well Besanii would refuse to eat and then he'd end up eating it himself.

The woman who served him raised an eyebrow. "She's a lucky girl."

He smirked; "yeah, she is."

"I made this soup especially for fevers today, my husband has one too. Hopefully she'll feel a little better with this." The woman explained, handing over a polystrene cup with a plastic lid. Volkner cupped his chilly fingers around it eagerly and nodded in thanks.

"Take care of her, she'll thank you for it later." The woman winked. Volkner coughed and turned bright red at the implications (which she may have never implied, his mind may have made that leap due to being male and undeniably attracted to Besanii) and paid her hurriedly. She chuckled as he scurried out of the cafe.

He walked fast in an attempt to cool his face, and the chilly breeze started to get to him. He shuddered and held the soup close, pulling his jacket around him tighter.

_Need to invest in a scarf... _He told himself absent-mindedly.

The week previous, Besanii had moved out of his gym and into her own apartment. She refused to tell Flint or himself where this apartment was until she'd furnished it, and revealed it was opposite the ice-cream parlour he had taken her to. Both of the men laughed at how girly it was, the white walls decorated with pretty canvas' of her pokemon, and ornaments in the shape of cup-cakes and flowers. She'd painted her bedroom baby blue, and was decorated the room similarly to the rest of her abode.

"It's like an Clefairy came in here and puked up everywhere." Volkner had chuckled, earning a playful punch from the tiny female.

"When did you become such a girl, Besanii? I taught you better!" Flint had then jibed, ruffling her hair up and earning a slap himself.

But now that Volkner was used to the place, (having had to visit daily due to Besanii's illness) he had to admit that although it wasn't to his liking, it was still very tasteful. Not over the top. He knocked on the white door, not expecting her to answer, but just warning her so she wasn't startled, and then used her key to get in. A robot, (which he had loaned her while she rested) busied itself by taking his coat and handing him a tissue as he sneezed, then hurried off to clean something.

He found her where he had expected her to be; in bed, curled in a ball, feeling sorry for herself. He chuckled at her pale, make-upless face and wild, uncombed hair and sat on the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling today?"

"Like a flu-infested Snorlax sat on my head." She muttered with her nasally, hoarse voice. When he rose an eyebrow, she elaborated; "It's better than the Wailord who sat on me yesterday, but I still feel crap."

He tutted, and proceeded with his usual routine of taking her temperature and clearing the sweat that had beaded on her forehead.

"You're dropping in temperature, at least."

She hummed in agreement. "Still feel like I'm getting a hug from Entei."

He smirked; "at least your imagination is still running wild as usual."

"It's the only thing that's keeping me from dying of boredom." She groaned. "Entei's pretty nice though, he's all fluffy..."

He shook his head, refusing to give into the laughter that was shaking in the pit of his stomach.

"Have you heard from Flint?" She asked.

"No, have you?"

She shook her head. "It's nice of him to worry about us..." She muttered dryly.

He didn't reply, instead he began to pour the soup into a mug for her.

After a moment of observing him, she tried her best to sniff the scent that was wafting around the room, to no avail. "You know," she muttered, mustering the strength to sit up, "I'm actually quite hungry."

He smiled weakly over at her, and then turned back to lift up the mug and sneezed.

"Well I don't want that now." She groaned, having observed him sneeze into the mug. So she slumped back down to the crevice she'd made in her new mattress.

Volkner sneezed again, and groaned. "I think I've got what you've got."

"You wouldn't be walking around if you had this." She pointed to herself, then reached for a tissue the robot readily handed her.

"Maybe I'm just not a wimp and suck it up." He teased, slumping onto her bed and drinking the soup he'd brought for her. She watched as he swallowed painfully. Once he'd done, he put the cup aside and lay back onto the bed.

"I'm so tired, Besanii. This training's killing me." He muttered, staring at the ceiling.

She didn't reply, but watched as he closed his eyes and eventually drifted off to sleep. It wasn't long until she was drifting off too.

* * *

"Volk? Are you in?" He wandered through the gym to see that his pokemon were all sleeping on his bed, but the blond was nowhere in sight. Raichu woke up and muttered its name.

"Where's Volkner?" Flint asked it, but the pokemon shrugged. "Great." He muttered, walking for the door again. Maybe Besanii would know. He began the trek, to the other side of the city, which he hadn't quite grown accustomed to. A few people stopped him to talk, but he eventually reached the apartment. He knocked, but there was no answer.

He could hear coughing inside though. He knocked again. "Besanii?" He shouted through.

It was a few minutes later, but Besanii finally wrenched the door open and winced away from the light that shone in.

"Wow." Flint exclaimed. "You look like you've seen a Gengar."

"Thanks." She muttered and shuffled into the bedroom again. "Get me some tea?"

"Sure. Have you seen Volk?" He called from the kitchen.

"Stop calling me that..." A weak voice came from the bedroom, and followed by coughs again. "I want tea too please."

Flint wandered in to see they had both collapsed on the bed and were curled up while their fingers clutched onto tissues.

"So you're both ill." He chuckled; "Nice of you to spend the time together." He teased as he placed a tray between them. "Want me to get something to eat?"

Besanii nearly bit his head off; "yes please!" Volkner merely groaned and tried to drink the tea.

"I'll be back in a bit then." He told them as he pulled on his new coat and left the house.

There was silence in the room, except for the the weak gulping as they struggled to drink.

"How long was I out?" Volkner asked.

"You've been asleep for fourteen hours. Looks like you needed it." She told him. "Will your pokemon be alright?"

He nodded back at her; "The robot will keep them fed, they probably need the rest anyway."

She sighed; "I need to hurry up and get better... I have thirteen days until the Grand Festival."

"You've already done a lot of training, and your first round is all set isn't it?" He arched a brow. She nodded back. "Well you have nothing to worry about." He stated.

She looked into her mug; "I've never gone into a contest unprepared before, and now I'm facing the biggest step in my career and don't have a choice but to wing it."

"You're not winging it, you're relying on your skills." He informed her, placing his finished mug to the side. "Stop worrying and go back to sleep, yeah?"

She watched him as he collapsed back, sneezing again into his tissue and throwing it in the general direction of the bin. She sighed and slid out of bed.

"I need a shower." She groaned, waddling for the bathroom.

"Me too." He called after her, listening to the water begin to run.

She poked her head out of the door and grinned; "Care to join me?"

He blinked, his eyes widening to the size of a Wigglytuff's. "What?"

She cackled and disappeared behind the door. "Never mind."

He stared at the space she'd been stood in, her head peering around the corner, so only her bare shoulders were showing. He then scowled down at himself for letting his mind wander into places they shouldn't and turned red with embarressment.

"I sure as hell hope that's not for me." Of course, Flint had to return at precisely the wrong time, and nodded toward the blanket that lay over Volkner. His hands immediately flew down to hide himself, and he glared over to his best friend.

"Sod off, Flint."

"I would, but watching you deal with Besanii while _that's_ poking around is too funny a thought." Flint howled as Volkner sat up and attempted to cover himself decently.

He scowled as fierce as a flu-ridden gym leader could, and Flint only laughed harder.

"Go make yourself useful and make something to eat." He demanded, flicking his hand in a gesture of dismissal. Flint saluted, chuckling to himself as he left the room.

He sat there, cross-legged on the bed, desperately trying to take his mind off things whilst enduring a coughing fit and listening to Besanii hum in her nasaly voice in the shower.

_Damn it all... _He muttered in his mind, glaring up to the ceiling.

* * *

**Ugh, I thought I had an amazing chapter in my head, then I got half way through and stopped abruptly, realising I had nowhere to go with this one. So yeah, let's put some crude jokes in! **

**Hopefully, within the next two chapters, the Grand Festival will begin, and things will start to get WAY more interesting. 8D**


	18. Bargains

He squirmed as the bell rang once again, bringing him out the slumber that was helping him recover from this detested illness.

"Let her in, for the love of peace." He groaned at the machine who was cleaning his room. It beeped in agreement and flashed a green light as it unlocked the door.

"Volk?"

He groaned. He didn't even have the energy to be annoyed at his name being shortened once again.

"How are you feeling?" She poked her head around the door, observing the still ill man coiled on the wooden floor with a quilt over him. "What are you doing down there?"

"The floor's cold." He muttered, his cheek plastered against the floor so his words were muffled.

She smiled weakly and knelt beside him. "I'm sorry you're going through this, you should be on the mend now though."

"No thanks to you." He sighed as she placed a palm across his forehead. It had been another week, and Volkner had only gotten worse since the day he'd collapsed in her bedroom and hadn't yet left.

She chuckled quietly and helped him sit up. "I brought you some noodles, I thought they'd be easy to swallow."

He let out a relieved moan as she held the box up to him, and he took it gratefully. She then began to move him to sit against his bed, propping his head against a pillow and then took the box off him.

"I hate being fed like a child." He mumbled, frowning as she scooped a small mouthful toward him. Despite his claim, he still opened his mouth and took the food.

She grinned as he swallowed loudly. "You love it really." She teased, feeding him another mouthful. He hummed in appreciation.

His head lolled back onto the bed. "How's your training?"

"I think I'll be ready soon." She said, spooning another mouthful toward him. "Your Raichu has been training RaiRai to control his electricity."

"Mmmm..." He tried to sound interested. He just couldn't muster the energy. Besanii was used to it anyway, and had experienced the lack of energy first-hand. He looked down through his narrowed eyes, and although he wasn't enthusiastic about coordinating, he could tell she was worried. "You'll be fine."

She smiled weakly; "It's not that."

He tried to care. He tried to think about what else could be worrying her. Some things were just too hard to do whilst he was listening to himself blink. Still, he felt the need to indulge her, she had brought him noodles and was spoon-feeding him. "What's wrong?"

She inhaled as if she were about to speak, but bit her lip to stop herself. "Nothing. Here." She fed him the last spoonful, and then held a carton of orange juice with a straw in ready for him to drink.

He nodded and took the drink off her. "Besanii."

She met his sleepy gaze as he tried to put the straw in his mouth without looking. It made her giggle as he poked his face aimlessly, then guided the straw to his lips. He kept watching her as he drank.

"I was wondering..." She muttered, but stopped herself again. He continued to stare. "H-how long were you-"

She couldn't seem to bring up the topic, and his curious stare was only making matters worse. So instead, she chose the cowardly route and stood up; "Never mind. I'll leave you to rest."

Just as she reached the door, Volkner had put the pieces together; "Not long. We were young, Alyssa was part of a group and it was cool for them to have older boyfriends."

"Oh." She peeped sheepishly over her shoulder, her cheeks filling up with a light red colour.

"I don't see why you're bothered, it was a few years ago, and nothing happened." He wheezed, followed by an endless string of sneezes. She waited until he'd finished to clarify.

"Nothing?" She rose an eyebrow.

"No." He replied. "Nothing."

She smirked; "So you didn't kiss her?" She began to walk back toward him. He felt the alarms going off in his head like every other time she was forming a trap.

"Uhh... No."

"What? Not even a peck?"

He eyed her carefully as she crouched in front of him. "Nope."

A twinkle of mischief ignited in her eyes as she leaned closer to whisper. "So I could beat her to it..."

His breathing stopped, and he froze in place as she came mere milimetres away from him. Their eyes so close he could see every fleck of brown that sprinkled on her green irises.

"It's a shame I can't risk being ill again. I guess it'll just have to wait." She smirked, her nose still touching his as she looked at the horror in his eyes. She pushed hard against the bed behind him to stand up and leave him in complete shock. He blinked up at her, and she grinned.

"That get's you back!" She turned and headed out of the room. "You'll just have to get better soon."

He stared at the empty hallway, completely stunned by her sudden confidence.

If her weren't so ill he would have mulled over it longer, but all he could do was crumble slowly back to the floor and drift to sleep to the sound of her singing in the kitchen.

* * *

"I need to look amazing, RaiRai. It's my big moment." She sighed dramatically as she threw another failure of a dress onto the hanger. The electric type groaned, taking the hanger on it's tail and handing it to the fitting room assistant who was stood at the front.

She yanked another dress over her head, this one a pale blue colour. The styling was nice and simple, but that bored her, so off it came just like the rest.

"What am I going to do?" She growled. That was the last one. The assistant did not look best please when Besanii left the shop empty handed after ruining all of their neat hanging, so she noted not to return there for a while.

They wandered the mall a while longer and nothing. She found herself in the market place all of a sudden. With no other ideas, she began looking through there, to no avail for the most part. She managed to find herself a glitter pen for pokeballs so she could decorate them personally, and a hair slide in a pretty silver colour that would look nice when she dyed her hair black.

Finally, she came across a relatively small stall in the corner of the indoor market. It had one or two customers every so often, due to how remote it was, and the merchant wasn't loud and bellowing across the hall at all. Instead, she was sat cross legged on a chair, with a strange feline pokemon that Besanii had never seen before curled up on her lap. The foreign pokemon was what drew Besanii in, but she was glad that was the case as there were some beautiful items to look at.

"Hello." The girl said, her accent thick.

Besanii nodded back at smiled. "Hey."

"Are you looking for something in particular?" She asked, stroking her pokemon.

"I'm going to a party, I need a dress." Besanii replied, her eyes sparkling with hope.

The girl nodded, lifting her pokemon and placing it on the chair when she'd moved. She motioned toward a portable rail, and Besanii began sifting through it as she began rumaging through a suitcase that was unpacked.

"How is this?" The girl lifted a plastic bag containing a fresh, untouched dress.

Besanii gasped. That was her dress. It was stunning. Ivory silk, gathering at the front, an extremely low back and hemmed with black lace on the bottom. It would just work wonders with her pale skin and soon to be black hair.

"That's it! That's it!" Besanii squealed; "I love it! How much?"

"Five hundred."

Besanii paused; "Four hundred?"

"Five."

"Deal."

...

She didn't question that 'bargaining until she got home, but she didn't let it bother her, she had a beautiful dress that would go with her black shoes and jewellery.

* * *

**Yes. Yes I am that stupid. Not quite to that extent, (Baring in mind Pokemon currency is much bigger than pounds.) but I have done that. FAIL. **

**My internet is being a bitch and won't let me do much atm, so bare with me and other things will be updated asap. XD**


	19. Meet The Parents

"Arrrraghhhh..."

He was startled awake by the grunt of the girl beside her and then cringed away from the light that seeped in from the bottom of the roman blinds. Once he was able to open his sensitive eyes, he looked to the side and started again. It had been a while since he'd woken up to Besanii's face. She'd been sleeping at his for the majority of his illness to save him from travelling through the cold to his home.

He smirked as she groaned once again, rubbing her face and screwing it up in pain.

"Morning."

She cringed away from the noise.

"Too much to drink?" Volkner asked.

She opened her eyes and blinked a few times, obviously not used to Volkner being beside her.

"You have no idea." She muttered; "I don't remember stopping here."

He chuckled, amused by her drunken stupor and the fact that she was hanging like an Aipom from a tree.

"It sounds like you had fun." He commented.

She nodded, her eyes closing and locking shut.

"I'll have to take you out some time." He mused, slipping out from the quilts.

"I'm never drinking again." She whined.

"Want some toast?"

She groaned and rolled over to face away from him. "I want sleep."

"Well you can't." He teased, pulling the quilt off her. She curled up tighter in response.

"Why not? Give me the covers back!" She hissed, rubbing her eyes again.

"Your parents are coming around, remember? You need to tidy round." He reminded, glancing around her house and noting how many dirty tissues, washing, plates and cups were scattered around.

A loud groan echoed through the apartment, followed by a loud thump as she rolled out of the bed and landed on her hands and knees on the floor like a rabid pokemon.

"Why me?" She shrieked dramatically with blood-lust. Volkner glanced in her direction to see she was crawling toward the bathroom. It made him chuckle at her expense.

"You can shut up too. Half of this is your mess." She grumbled, slamming the door behind her and then groaning at the pain in her head.

He didn't reply, and instead continued pulling out pots and pans to make a good old fashioned fried breakfast. It had been a while since he'd cooked for her, and since he was feeling almost better, he felt it was time to pay her back.

_I am not touching the washing up though. _He thought, looking at the pile that needed cleaning.

Besanii came out, dripping wet and clean with her nose leading. The smell was overwhelmingly good, and it was even soothing her pounding head. She wandered over in her towel, peering over his shoulder and consequentially soaking said shoulder with her dripping hair.

"That smells amazing." She cooed, mouth watering.

"Get away from me. Go get dry!" He scolded, turning around and shooing her away. He would have been unable to do so had he seen her before he'd told her off due to the face that she was half-ass naked. "And put some clothes on!" He added.

She stuck her tongue out, and wandered back for the bedroom. "It's my house."

He snorted; "It's _my_ eyes." He teased, jumping when a pillow bounced off his head. "Do you want this food or not?"

"Of course I do!" She cried, the sound of her hairdryer going off.

He snorted, shaking his head free of the vision of her in a towel. The food was almost done, and she was almost dressed.

The vision lingered like the wet patch on his shoulder.

* * *

"Right, you have to leave." Besanii ordered, patting her full stomach contentedly. It had done a wonderful job of perking her up, and soaking up the unnecessary amount of alcohol that had formed a lining inside her. Even her head was clearing with a copious amount of water after Volkner's insistence.

"What?" Volkner snapped, surprised by her bluntness.

"Well, my parents are coming around. How am I going to explain you being here?" She sighed, waving a hand over him.

He smirked; "Ashamed of having me around?"

"A little." She smirked, laughing when he frowned. "You know what they'll think."

He shrugged, getting up and grabbing his coat. "I make you food and you kick me out." He huffed.

"Oh quit your whining. You don't want to be here anyway." She snapped playfully.

"Yeah right." He yanked the door open, and stumbled before he could storm out. "Mrs Demery."

"Hello Volkner, are you feeling better?" The kind looking woman smiled sweetly as she stepped into the house.

"Much better, thank you." He replied politely, turning to shake Mr Demery's hand. "Sir."

"Mornin'" He nodded stiffly, his face gentle, but still carefully composed.

"Wow, sweetie, you look rough." The mother wiped at Besanii's face as she laughed. "Last night was fun, no?"

Besanii chuckled; "Yeah, I didn't realise you'd be around so early." She gestured to the kitchen, and they all followed her in.

"Ooh, I like this, Besanii." Her mother complimented as her eyes scanned the room. It was light, strip lighting running along the ceiling, and light wooden floors. The table tops and cupboard doors were the same wood, and the walls, table cloth and chair covers were light yellow gingham. All accessories were yellow too, and even the blind over the window was lemon yellow.

She smiled; "Thanks! Tea?"

Her father grinned, messing her already messy hair. "Please."

* * *

The mother and daughter lay on the made bed together, Besanii's head resting in her mother's lap whilst she played with her hair.

"He's nice, Besanii."

"Huh?"

"Volkner. A little quiet, but he's nice."

Not clicking on in the slightest, Besanii nodded. "Yes, he is."

"How long have you been dating?" Mrs Demery asked casually.

"What!" Besanii shot up, spinning to stare at her Mum with wide eyes. "We're not!"

"Honey, I saw it in the newspapers. You don't have to hide stuff from me." She chuckled. "Not that you could anyway."

"We're really not." Besanii waved her hands, turning bright red. "We're just really good friends."

The mother saw the honesty in her eyes and nodded, believing her. They might not have been dating, but she wasn't blind to the chemistry that was already bubbling at boiling point between them.

"The way he looks at you though." Mrs Demery said after a little while.

"Oh Mum!" Besanii cried, flushing red.

"No sweetie, I don't mean like that." She patted her daughter and placed a hand over her mouth to shut her whining up. "He's like a guilty Poochyena who wants nothing more than to please you."

Besanii smiled; "He'd do anything for me if I asked him." _Not that I would. _She added in her head.

"Yes, I can see that. He's the sort of person I'd be happy to see you settle down with." The mother mused, her lips curling up as Besanii chuckled.

"I'm not settling down any time soon, Mum. You won't have any weddings to attend or grandchildren for a long time." Besanii insisted. "It was a big enough step to buy an apartment."

"I didn't mean that and you know it." Mrs Demery scolded lightly, tapping Besanii's nose playfully as she did so.

She did know. Besanii hadn't gone through life without tears over boys. There had been boyfriends and crushes who had hurt her, sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally, and sometimes through no action of their own but just her unrequited love. Mrs Demery had watched them all from a young age, steering her daughter to strength. Once her eyes settled on Volkner, a strong gym leader who seemed very well grounded and mature, who had eyes for only her daughter, she knew Besanii would be happy.

"Come on, I should be getting ready. The Grand Festival starts in two hours!" Besanii leapt out of the bed, hangover completely forgotten now her food had settled and her mind was elsewhere.

The mother smiled at her grown up child. She saw a confident young lady before her, but in her mind all she could see was the little girl who had wanted nothing more than to be big and strong like Flint.

* * *

**Ahaaa, so I turn up finally! XD**

**I had the majority of this chapter written but got completely stuck until I had a very similar coversation with my mother not too long ago and it popped into my mind. So I thought this was how I should go. **

**Merry Christmas to all of you, and I hope you have a good'un. **


	20. The Beginning

"Good luck Boo!" Her father chortled, resisting the urge to scruff her polished and perfected hair.

"Do your best, now." Her mother added, grasping her hands and squeezing tightly.

"I will." Besanii said surely, though her insides were shaking like a Drifblim in a hailstorm.

The two disappeared, making way for a very proud brother, who was brimming with tears. He wrapped his rugged arms around her and shook her gently. "You did it, Besanii. You're here."

The now black haired girl giggled into the shoulder of her best friend. "I am."

"I'm so proud of you for getting this far. Don't you forget that alright?" Flint told her firmly, though she could hear the break in his voice as his emotions took reign. "And... As soppy as it sounds, I love you so much."

"I love you too Flint." She had already started crying from the moment he'd confessed his pride for her. It wasn't very often Flint was like this, and it meant a lot to her when he was.

"Is Volk coming?" She asked, stepping away from Flint and dabbing at her eyes.

"He wouldn't miss it for the world." Flint said, glancing over her shoulder and frowning.

"Go then, save him a seat." Besanii pushed him toward the audience.

The redhead laughed; "Boo, we're in the VIP area thanks to me. I don't need to save him a seat."

"Go!" The younger girl repeated, rolling her eyes at him and flicking her wrist in dismissal.

"Good luck, sis. Not that you need it."

_I need all the luck I can get. _She sighed to herself as she twisted her fingers and glanced nervously at the hall entrance. Still no sign of the blond haired gym leader.

"Umm... Miss Demery?"

She spun at her most uncommon name. A nervous young apprentice shakily held out a microphone to her and offered his other hand to shake. Behind him, a man with a large professional video camera on his shoulder gave her a wave.

"I'm Robert Delfino, from SCI news, may I ask you a few questions?" He was nervous, but as she nodded, his hand steadied, and his words were more fluid and confident.

The young news reader turned to the camera and smiled. The cameraman signaled a '3...2...1...okay!' And the interview began.

"Hello and welcome to SCI news, the place to hear from the coordinators first! I'm Robert Defino, live at the Sunyshore Grand Festival Hall with the aspiring star; Besanii Demery!" He turned and grinned at her, and she smiled back sweetly, waiting for him to ask his first question.

"First of all, congratulations for making it to the Grand Festival, and on such a winning streak too! Do you feel you can take this all the way?" He asked, thrusting the hand-held microphone in her face.

She pursed her lips and then nodded; "I hope I can. I've been working so hard, but so has every coordinator here. I've just got to give it my all and hope for the best!"

Robert smiled at her modesty and turned the microphone back to himself; "And we're rooting for you back at SCI news of course! Now tell me Besanii, any tricks up your sleeve?"

She grinned at him with a twinkle in her eye; "That would be telling."

"So that's a yes then!" Robert laughed, she joined in too. "You're not going to give us a clue?"

She shook her head; "Where's the fun in that, right?"

"Right!" He agreed. "Now, we've received news that you're the bookie's favourite this year at 5/1! How do you feel about this news?"

She blushed; "Wow, I didn't know that! What an honour to be considered so highly!"

"Mmhmm..." Robert nodded, pursing his lips. "Now, time for the juicy stuff. It's been in the news recently that you've had been seen with Sunyshore's very own gym leader. Am I right?"

She went red, completely taken off guard by this blind side. She hadn't expected her private life to be questioned in this!

"I errr..."

"No need to be shy." Robert pushed.

"Well... We've been friends for a long while now, I've been staying at the gym up until the grand festival."

"Oh!" He looked rather shocked. "So love isn't in the air then?"

She giggled; "No, just good friends."

"Well there you have it, contest fans! You heard it first from SCI news!" Robert wrapped up, and continued to smile.

The cameraman finally exhaled with a sharp; "Cut!"

"Thank you so much!" Robert shook her hand again, and she just nodded back at him.

_Bastard. _She narrowed her eyes as he scurried off to attack more people about their private lives, and she mentally punched him repeatedly for putting her on the spot.

"You cut me deep, Boo." A voice said from behind her, slight mockery in his voice.

She spun around and smirked. "Well I cleared things up for us. I could have said you broke my heart like a threatened."

"But that would be lying." He waggled his finger.

She changed the subject. "You're late."

"Yeah, sorry about that." He scratched his head, then pulled the hand he'd been hiding behind his back around to reveal a single white flower that was tinted red in the middle to match her dress.

"Oh my!" She gasped, her face lighting up as he began tucking it into her curls. "Thank you." She breathed.

"You're welcome." He eyed the badge that she had pinned to her dress as her good luck charm and smiled. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Sick." She said without hesitation.

"Don't be nervous. You've done this before, remember?" He said softly as he tucked a hair behind her ear.

She nodded; "yes but not-"

"You mustn't dwell on that. It's just a stage like every other time. You'll be fine." He told her more sternly this time, and she stared wide eyed at him. "Show me what coordinating is about."

"Boy," she said teasingly; "you're gonna be reconsidering your career after you've seen me." It was fake confidence of course, but it made her feel a lot better after she did so. He chuckled.

"At'ta girl." He grinned, leaning in and kissing her forehead. She blinked up at him, more shocked at this than his words and the flower. He walked off before she could comment on it, and her mind still hadn't fully registered by the time he'd disappeared around the corner.

"Besanii?"

She spun around to see a runner, who looked relieved to have found her. "You're on in two appeals."

She breathed in and out slowly and nodded, following the runner down the corridor and ready to show off her moves.

* * *

She danced out elegantly, her two pokeballs trembling in her palms as she took in the biggest audience she'd ever laid eyes on. They cheered for her expectantly, and the words of Robert ran through her. _Bookie's favourite... _

It was far more pressure now they had high hopes for her.

_Just do the appeal._ She told herself, closing her eyes and inhaling.

"Vaporeon! Medicham! Time to shine!" She sang, throwing her pokeballs into the air. They both opened and smoke billowed out of the both of them. The audience gasped in awe, and she smiled at how easily she'd captured their attention with mere seals.

"Vaporeon! Aurora beam!" She commanded, wafting one hand in front of her.

Her pokemon, though nobody could see it, set to work and cried out it's name as a colourful beam illuminated the smoke, turning it into a beautiful trance-like fog.

"Now Medicham! Use Vacuum wave!"

"Chaaaam!" It called back in acknowledgement, wafting it's arms around methodically as the smoke sucked in toward it swiftly. Once all the smoke had gathered into a compact ball, Medicham released it upwards to create a sparkling rainbow coloured thin tornado, to which Vaporeon froze with a quick ice-beam. The two stepped back but the appeal was not over.

"Medicham, sunny day!"

Light blasted through the frozen pole, and colours were sent throughout the room lighting the audience in reds, blues, purples... They crowed with delight, and the judges exclaimed in awe. The three of them took their bow, and she grinned toward the judges before leaving the stage with her head held high.


	21. Toast

"Quit fidgeting."

Despite the warning from Volkner, Besanii continued to shuffle in her seat, rubbing her hands together nervously as she stared at the back of her mother's head. Her parents had gone to fetch food, and so she was left to sit with the most unsympathetic people she'd ever known. Flint was babbling about how excited he was for her, and she'd given up listening to him. Volkner was far too busy being amused at Besanii's anxiety to comfort her in any way.

"Besanii." He said sharply. She stopped her bouncing in her seat and looked at him sharply.

He smiled slightly. "Calm down."

"I can't. I'm so nervous!" And with those words, she began shaking where she sat.

"Just leave her to it, Volk." Flint chuckled. "She won't settle until she hears the results."

"I will when you stop calling me 'Volk.'" He snapped back.

Flint laughed, punching his best friend lightly on the arm, which Volkner gladly returned, only harder.

"Here we go." Mrs Demery arrived, placing a tray of cakes and a tea pot with several mugs. Mr Demery shortly followed with milk and sugar.

"Thanks, Mrs Demery!" Flint grinned as she poured him a mug first.

Volkner nodded as he recieved his and uttered a thanks too. Besanii, however, had spaced, biting her nails.

"Get your hands out of your mouth, Besanii!" Her mother scolded, then softened when Besanii jumped. "Look, whatever happens, happens. There's no use in working yourself up."

Of course, it didn't help. It was not knowing that was getting to her the most, and then the horrible biting feeling that she could be going home tonight knowing she wouldn't be top coordinator this year.

Flint wrapped an arm around her and squeezed. "Listen to your Mom, she's right."

"Okay." Besanii said, just to shut them up. She could keep still for a little while, but she wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it.

"Just ten more minutes." Mr Demery assured her.

They all went quiet for a minute, and it was her mother who spoke up again after eying her child nawing on her bottom lip. "Your Medicham has gotton a lot stronger."

"Yes, she has. All of my pokemon have." Besanii smiled weakly.

"And they will never let you down." Mrs Demery nodded.

"Never." The raven-haired girl said surely. Her heart felt lighter with the thoughts of her determined team trusting her entirely in leading them to victory.

* * *

"And the results are in!" The commentator chimed excitedly.

The board flickered sixteen cards around in a random shuffle, and then one at at time they began revealing pictures.

Besanii's face was shown first. She squealed with delight, clapping her hands together. Alyssa was fourth up, and there were others she recognised too.

Once all the cards had shown, they turned back and shuffled.

"Here are the second round match ups."

Besanii searched for her face again, and spotted it somewhere on the bottom row. Next to her, joined with a bar. The boy she was to face first was around her age, and she was aware he was experienced from other region contests. He was pale, with navy hair and a perfectly angular face. His picture was stoic, and yet there was a hint of passion that twinkled in his silver eyes.

"Excuse me."

She turned and smiled at the boy whose face she'd just been examining. "Oh, hello."

He grinned back at her and held out his hand. "I'm Jesse."

"Besanii." She took his hand and shook it gently.

"I just wanted to wish you luck with everything, and that I'll see you tomorrow." His eyes twinkled with excitement, and waved to her as he hurried off. She continued to smile as she thought about how kind he was, and it settled her mind.

_At least he's not like Alyssa. No mind games, no bitching... Just a straight-forward battle with a good coordinator._

"There she is..." Flint sang, tackling into her.

She grinned, unable to reply due to restricted airflow.

"I told you that you'd be fine!" He laughed down her ear. She winced away from it, but smiled nonetheless.

"Yes, you did." She chuckled, now finally released from his grip.

"Well done, sweetie!" A hand came down upon her shoulder and she looked to see her father grinning at her. Two gentle arms wrapped around her torso from the other side, and she instinctively knew it was her mother.

"We must celebrate!" Flint beamed, throwing his arms in the air. He was receiving a lot of stares from the crowds around them, and it didn't help matters that he was famous.

Her parents nodded in agreement, ushering their daughter out of the building whilst Flint and Volkner followed. "Yes, we should go for a meal."

"Mmm... That sounds good." Besanii grinned.

"I know just the place actually." Volkner smiled gently. "A quaint little restaurant in the plaza Besanii lives in. It's usually quite quiet, but the food is brilliant.

"That sounds wonderful." Mrs Demery nodded, smiling to Volkner. "Shall we meet around eight?"

"I'll make the reservations." He concluded, bowing his head slightly.

Flint, who'd been quiet for quite some time, (in Flint terms, anyway) suddenly perked up. "I'm so excited for you Besanii! Come on, let's get ready."

She nodded excitedly. "I'll see you there!" She told her parents, who chuckled and watched them leave.

* * *

With her hair still immaculate from the Grand Festival, she only had to pick out an outfit from the many she'd worn for her contests. She pulled out her cream shirt that had gathered sleeves and an intricate design around the wrist, and a pussybow around her neck. She pulled out a black tulip skirt that reached her knees and then accessorised with pretty rustic golden jewellery.

Just as she had finished touching up her make-up, and pulling on her shoes, the doorbell rang. She tottered over with a grin forming on her face, and she opened it to flinch back at the sound of a loud bang.

"Congratulations!" Flint howled with laughter as he watched his sister turn ghostly white from the jump, then blushed bright red at the idiocy of her skittish nature. In his hands, was an overflowing bottle of champagne with the cork missing, somewhere in the room.

"Don't do that!" She scolded, stepping aside and holding the door open for them.

Flint was wearing navy trousers, with a stripy t-shirt and cardigan to match. Volkner stepped in after him, wearing cream chinos that were very clearly new, with a maroon polo-neck shirt and a black leather jacket. Both of them were equally handsome and stylish in their own way, and together that had almost certainly turned heads on their way to her home.

"Sorry sis, wasn't expecting it to pop!" He chortled, only to receive a disgruntled glare from the pint-sized coordinator.

Volkner was also rolling his eyes. "You shook the bottle, what did you expect?"

Besanii rose an eyebrow and tapped her foot impatiently, and Flint sweat-dropped. "I was laughing!" He cried in his defence.

"At the thought of making Besanii jump." Volkner added, narrowing his eyes as Flint turned sharply on him.

"Stop being a grass." Flint muttered.

"Don't tell me what to do." Volkner shot back playfully. The two stared at each other until Besanii grew impatient.

"I'll get some glasses then." She backed away, but Flint shook his head.

"I'll do it." He said, wandering for the kitchen whilst running his finger through the bubbles that had poured over and licked it. His face lit up with delight.

Besanii chuckled, then turned to retrieve her light brown blazer.

"You look incredible by the way." Volkner complimented.

"Thanks." She beamed brilliantly, causing his breath to hitch. "Words can't describe how good you look."

He coughed in surprise, taken back by her bluntness. "Uhh... Thanks I guess."

"What do you mean, 'you guess'? I just complimented you like you did to me." She shrugged, passing him to change her shoes into something more comfortable. They were brown like her blazer, and the boots stopped just past her ankle. On the sides were three little material flowers of the same colours.

"I guess I'm not as glamourous as you when it comes to recieving compliments." He held his hands up in surrender.

"Well, you're welcome anyway." She smiled slightly, standing up and finding he was closer than she'd anticipated. Her eye level was at his collar bone, so she instinctively tilted her head back to find his eyes looking down to her.

"So are you." He breathed, the corner of his lip twitching upward as she was rendered speechless.

"Enough flirting while I'm around, please!" Flint whined, causing them to jump apart slightly. They both glanced to each other and chuckled as they took the champagne.

"Congratulations!" Flint cried once more, tilting the glass toward them. They nodded and tapped their glasses together, then sipped at the drink in cheers.

Once finished with their congratulatory drink, they left just a few minutes before eight, so as to be at the restaurant on time. It was only outside of Besanii's apartment anyway. Volkner led the way, whilst Flint held his arm out in a gentlemanly fashion for Besanii to hold as they followed.

"I've never been in here, but I've seen people leave with smiles on their faces a lot." Besanii mused excitedly.

"Yes, I have never experienced anything bad with them." Volkner replied over his shoulder.

"I hope they're fast, I'm ravenous." Flint added, clutching his stomach with his free hand.

"Flint's been eating the dictionary again." Besanii muttered, earning a light tap on her arm from her brother.

"There they are!" A voice that greatly resembled Besanii's perked up, and they all scanned the room to find it. Her parents had already been seated by a large window that looked out onto a beautiful garden lit by small lamps. The waiter escorted them over to the table and handed out three more menus. The room was quiet, but not empty, mainly couples dating and one small family sat in the corner. The decor was quaint and modest, a deep red carpet with cream table clothes and seat covers, a light sash surrounding each chair and lined the edges of the table. On each table was a golden vase filled with cream tulips and on each plate was a gold napkin folded into a fan. Besanii's eyes twinkled at the beauty of it all, and it seemed her tastes came directly from her mother.

"You've certainly picked a fine place to bring us, Volkner. You live in a wonderful city." Mrs Demery commented, her silver eyes flicking up from the menu to smile at the blond man who sat across from her.

"I do, I'm very lucky to be a gym leader here." He replied, nodding back to her.

"But not for long, eh?" Mr Demery grinned. "We saw the news, congratulations on making it to the Elite."

Volkner smiled. "Thanks."

"What are they going to do to fill your place?" The middle-aged man asked.

There was no reply for a second. Volkner paused and looked to Flint, who shrugged.

"It hasn't been decided yet," Volkner explained; "I'm still gym leader until the end of the next season, so they have plenty of time to find a replacement."

Mr Demery seemed engrossed. Being a trainer himself, he was naturally more interested in gym battles than his daughter's contests. "Will it be another electric type trainer, do you think?"

Flint answered instead; "no. Volkner will only be a few steps away after the eighth gym badge is obtained. It would be unfair to him if each challenger already had an effective offense to electric types because of the gym battle before."

Mr Demery nodded in understanding, but Volkner was frowning. "I could take them on, no matter what. I've had plenty experience against all types of offense."

"True, but it would still be unfair." Flint countered.

"So where are they going to find a strong trainer who specialises in one type that isn't the same as the gym leaders and elitists of Sinnoh?" Besanii asked, considering the odds of it all.

"There's no strict rule in having one type of pokemon team." Volkner told her; "it's just a common occurance. Your friend's boyfriend has a mixed team, and he's a gym leader."

"Gary, of course." Besanii nodded, looking to her mother; "Scarlett's boyfriend."

"Oh they're still dating?" Mrs Demery smiled.

"-Anyway." Mr Demery turned to face Volkner and Flint, leaving the two women to chatter about girly things. "Are they going to be Sinnoh native?"

"Of course, preferably from Sunyshore, but it's not necessary." Flint smiled, knowing the ins and outs of the Sinnoh league perfectly due to his own role in it.

"Wow, well it's impressive that you've moved up so quickly Volkner, congrats again." Mr Demery grinned, his green eyes sparkling as his lids wrinkled at the sides.

"Thank you sir."

"So what made you choose electric types?"

The conversation went on.

* * *

With the meal coming to a finish, and several bursts of laughter coming from Flint's jokes and stories, the five of them ordered one final drink to wash everything down with.

"I propose a toast. To my daughter, " Mr Demery held up his glass. The rest of the party followed. "who made it through to the Grand Festival with no losses, a record I am proud to boast," he added loudly, glancing around the room to see people looking over, "and to her making it through the first round with ease."

All but Besanii cheered. "To Besanii!"

She blushed a bright red, but tilted her glass forward slightly to stop them from drinking. "And! To Volkner, who is the greatest gym leader I have ever battled."

He smirked knowingly as the other three chorused his name too, and they clashed their glasses and sipped away.

"So you battled Volkner?" Mr Demery's eyes lit up.

"Oh you should have seen her!" Flint cackled.

"I beat him, Dad!" Besanii grinned.

"No way!"

"I was already coming down with that illness..." Volkner mumbled pathetically.

"Lies!" Besanii laughed; "I beat you fair and square."

The group laughed together, their night drifting on happily into the early hours of the morning.

* * *

**Meh. Majorly busy. You've heard it all before. Sorry!**


	22. Esteem

Her eyes dropped down to her lap where her two pokemon who were encapsulated and patiently waiting for their time to shine.

"This is the next step." She breathed to them, and waited as if they were going to reply.

A quiet cough alerted her of somebody entering the room, and she turned as they spoke her name.

"Miss Besanii? The current battle is almost over, and yours will be next." The runner glanced down at his clipboard and muttered something into his headset.

Besanii glanced up to the television to see Alyssa was just finishing up a spectacular combination to completely wipe the competition off their feet. She knew she should have been watching as it was more than likely she and Alyssa would eventually come head to head, and the doll-like girl had improved greatly, but just watching her was sending panicking thoughts through her mind.

"Umm... Miss?"

"Yes, I'm coming." Besanii stood and hurried after him.

"Just down there..." The runner pointed to the doors. "Good luck."

"Thanks." She muttered, and began to walk down the corridor. Gradually, as she shook herself out, confidence forced its way through her body.

"Well well, you showed up." A voice cut in through her thoughts, and she glanced up to see Alyssa had finished with her battle and was now entertaining herself by annoying Besanii.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Besanii asked incredulously.

Alyssa shrugged; "Well with the press on your back, I would have thought you'd have hidden in your little hole just like last time."

Besanii frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't read much do you?" The girl cackled, then brushed past her. "I hope you win this one, Besanii, I would like to beat you myself." She called over her shoulder.

"We'll see, won't we?" Besanii hissed, unable to contain herself.

The small girl did not reply, only walking away with a smile cast over her shoulder to infuriate her even more.

"And last but not least, the anticipated battle between Sandgem's sweetheart and the heart-throb of Solaceon." The commentator sang through the microphone. A different runner pushed her through onto the stage that was so dark she could barely see, and told her to stay on a certain point. The firm hands suddenly disappeared, and a spotlight fell upon her, blinding her completely.

The crowd went wild, a roar of applause meeting her ears, and she beamed out to the nothingness that she knew to be the audience. Looking to her side, Jesse was doing similarly and then looked over to her. He lowered his chin and turned his friendly smile into a challenging one. She did likewise, and took the first step toward him, holding her hand out ready.

The spotlights followed them, and once their hands met, the arena lights turned on, and the room was suddenly visible.

"Give me your all, Besanii. I'll never forgive you if you don't." Jesse winked at her, releasing his grip on her hand.

"Likewise." She grinned back at him, taking her place at her end of the arena.

"Five minutes on the clock for a double battle, release your pokemon!" The commentator commanded.

Jesse went first, flicking his pokeballs smoothly and releasing a team she knew he'd used before; a Poliwrath and a Gliscor. They weren't very typical contest pokemon, but neither were hers.

"Weavile, RaiRai!" Her pokemon stood close together, eyeing up their much larger competition. Sure, they looked bulky, but they were a good team, and fast too. With a glance to Besanii, they were sure of themselves.

"And... Begin!"

Weavile began running at the words of the commentator, and its speed was in top form. Besanii grinned, nodding to RaiRai, who took up his position too.

"Weavile, metal claw! RaiRai, use charge beam!"

The two worked together as planned. Even with the blinding speed, Weavile was caught up by the electric attack. Its claw sliced into the beam, and it crackled brightly, and Weavile closed in quickly toward Poliwrath.

"Besanii wastes no time in bringing her newest creation to life; a spectacular combination of electric and steel type attacks!" The commentator rattled quickly, but neither of the coordinators were paying attention, their focusses solely on the battle.

As if predicting the counter move, Besanii flicker her hand forward, and RaiRai began running too.

"Gliscor, Steel wing!"

The flying scorpian sprang forward, gliding close to the floor. Weavile saw it coming, and timed it as close as it dared, just managing to leap above it.

"RaiRai, take out Gliscor, iron tail!" Besanii barked, watching helplessly as the Gliscor flicked its wings and clipped Weavile's feet. The ice type crashed to the floor, and the sparks fizzled out. Gliscor, who was distracted with Weavile, was not aware of RaiRai, who had leapt above the scene and rolled forward to slam its tail into Gliscor.

"Poliwrath, earthquake!"

Gliscor grinned and lashed its tail out to bat RaiRai away and spring up in the air. At the same time, Poliwrath punched at the floor and the ground smashed in a huge ripple, taking Weavile and RaiRai with it. They cried out in pain, their voices shaky from the impact.

"RaiRai! Helping Hand!" Weavile, use reflect!"

Another combination set up, and while Weavile summoned a mirror-like shield, RaiRai sped up the process with its own attack.

"Poliwrath, water pulse!"

The water pokemon tensed and released a huge wave of water that pulsated toward them. It crashed against the reflect, barely hurting either of the pokemon hidden behind it.

"Weavile, freeze it!" Besanii grinned, knowing her plan of action. "RaiRai! Use Volt Tackle."

They set off to work, and RaiRai leapt for the water pulse. As it reached the stream, it froze beneath its feet, and it sprinted for Poliwrath. Weavile took off to follow, keeping the reflect shield on the Raichu by skating after it.

"Gliscor, steel wing again!"

Besanii did not react, expecting the reflect to take care of Gliscor, but it wasn't aiming for either of her pokemon. With one sweep, it took out the track Weavile had created. RaiRai skidded to a halt, crackling with charged up energy, and it spurred Besanii into her next move.

"Weavile, metal claw again. RaiRai, make Weavile fly!" She commanded.

RaiRai turned, falling onto all fours and lowering its head. Weavile leapt onto its back, and was flung into the air, claw crackling again. Poliwrath attempted to dodge, but wasn't fast enough. Weavile landed on top of it, knocking it to the floor, and punching right in the middle of its swirl. The water type roared in pain as electricity coursed through its body, and it kicked out instinctively, throwing Weavile away and smashing the reflect barrier in the process.

Jesse took advantage of that. "Fire Fang, now Gliscor!"

Gliscor, who had been floating gently as it recovered from smashing the ice, began blasting heat waves from its teeth and catching Weavile just as it was thrown into the air. Weavile squealed and hissed, feeling the pain, and Besanii could only watch as it was thrown to the floor, burnt heavily.

She looked across the arena, knowing Weavile was the most in trouble, and Gliscor was the bigger threat because RaiRai had no advantage over it. Getting Poliwrath out of the equation would help though.

"RaiRai, Charge beam, fast!" She pointed at Poliwrath, and RaiRai nodded, making sure whatever it did was appealing to the judges. The beam sparkled brightly, and crackled loudly as it hit its tired target. It tried to resist, but it could not resist blacking out.

"And Poliwrath just couldn't stand the heat! What will Jesse do now?"

He responded quickly; "Earthquake."

Besanii growled, knowing Weavile wouldn't take that kind of attack, and with a glance to the scores, she knew that she and RaiRai wouldn't be able to hold their lead against Jesse with a ground type. She had a trick up her sleeve though; "Surf!"

Weavile nodded, leaping away just as Gliscor hit the ground with its tail, and water appeared from nowhere, rushing Weavile into the air and looping around.

"RaiRai! Charge Beam!" She called, and Weavile took the attack to create another combination they'd never tried before. Gliscor tried to jump out of the way, but was caught up in the wave, and while the electricity wouldn't have hurt it any other time, it's soaked body meant otherwise.

The battle was over before the time ran out.

"And Besanii does it again! Yet to receive a loss, can she continue this streak?" The commentator squealed in excitement, and waved to Besanii as she took her bow. Jesse, never one to be bitter about a loss, suddenly appeared at her side and held his arms out. She blinked once, but accepted his hug.

"I wish you the best of luck Besanii." He pulled away, and grinned at her.

"Thank you, and thanks for such a great battle." She replied, smiling sweetly as she tilted her head.

Without warning, he leant close to her, a hand discreetly holding her head in place as planted his lips on hers. Her eyes widened and her body stiffened in shock. It seemed like the whole room was in that state of surprise, like they'd all gasped at the same time as her.

"Well, if things weren't confirmed before, they certainly are now!" The commentator chuckled as he pulled away from her. Nobody could see the confusion and accusation in her eyes, except for Jesse. He didn't care to explain himself, and instead he pulled his arm around her and led her toward the exit.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She hissed, a smile on her face so as not to cause a drama. She did not need that kind of attention at a crucial time.

"Alyssa says hello."

Her fake smile did not falter, but she glared up at him with anger. The moment they were out of the public eye, she ripped herself from his arm, and did not hesitate in swinging her hand toward him, a harsh slap resounding down the corridor. He grunted as the pain smarted through his cheek, and he clutched his jaw to ease the pain.

"Tell her I'll beat her just as easily as I beat you." She growled menacingly, squaring up to him despite the vast difference in height. "And I don't need to sabotage to beat either of you."

She tutted at him, then strutted off angrily, only to be greeted by Volkner, who seemed just as infuriated.

"Volk I-"

"Is he down there?" He asked, his anger clearly not aimed at her. She blinked, and just about managed to stop him from passing her.

"No, leave it Volkner!"

"I'm not going to let him do this to you." He hissed, glaring over her to see Jesse was walking in casually, his chin high in the air.

"That's not a good idea, Volk, just drop it." Flint's arm was suddenly around him, restraining him.

"You think you're clever, don't you?" Volkner growled, not heeding his friends' warnings. He tried to struggle, but Flint was far stronger and bulkier.

Jesse smirked; "She told me about you. Said to say hello to you too."

"What?"

"Guess..." Besanii muttered, then turned her attention back to Jesse. "Just get out of here. I don't want to see your face again."

"You'll be seeing it a lot, I'm afraid. Good luck with that." He snorted, and walked out, not even giving Volkner a wide birth, despite the blonde's terrifying glare.

"Don't worry, Volk... She's not worth it." Besanii said, looking down at her pokeballs. "I'll beat her next time anyway." She placed a hand on his arm gently, and followed it down to take his hand. He seemed to calm at her touch, and sighed.

"Sorry." He grumbled, looking to Flint, who shook his arms out.

Flint paid no mind to him though, and continued to stare in the direction Jesse had left. "That can't be good for Besanii."

"Not if Alyssa had anything to do about it." Volkner muttered in agreement.

Besanii, who had already calmed compared to her friends, simply shrugged. "Haters gonna hate."

It made them both chuckle. Flint punched her lightly in the shoulder; "Let them be jealous, Boo. They wouldn't do this if you weren't a threat."

"I know..." She smiled, then glanced at the floor.

* * *

She lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling as RaiRai and Weavile approached, settling on either side of her, nesting in the curvature of her arms.

"Well done today guys, you were brilliant." She smiled to them, and they mumbled their names back to her.

Her mother appeared around the door, holding a cup of warm cocoa for her and a smile gently gracing her face. "Hey baby." She cooed, circling the bed and taking the empty side.

"Hey." Besanii whispered, thanking her mother as she placed the mug on the bedside table.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

The coordinator grinned; "Excited."

Mrs Demery wasn't one for accepting fronts and bravados. She rose an eyebrow and asked the question again.

Besanii looked her in the eye, and found her eyes watering unwillingly.

"Why do they all hate me?" She whispered. Her voice weak. The mother stroked her face and offered soft reassurances as she felt sorry for herself.

She hadn't lied whilst acting confident, she did have a thick skin and most things she took with a pinch of salt, but it didn't stop her from taking a confidence knock each time somebody betrayed her. Now she was here, in the Grand Festival where emotion and adrenaline was running high, this publicity stunt had been the straw that broke the Camerupt's back.

Mrs Demery stopped there that night, and did not sleep until Besanii had exhausted herself and drifted herself. As a mother, she could only pray her daughter would find strength in her dreams.


	23. Spoons

The curtains were still drawn, as eager cameramen awaited her appearance. She peeked through slightly, and they were sat by her door expectantly.

"They're not going away, are they?" Besanii looked to her mother, who sighed and patted her daughter's shoulder.

"I did try to get rid of them."

"I know you did, maybe I should just send RaiRai down there..." She muttered back, and her tiny electric pokemon perked its ears at the idea.

"Raiiii..." It grumbled in excitement.

"No sweetie," Mrs Demery chuckled; "that would give you bad press."

Besanii sighed, throwing her hands in the air. "What do I do then? I need to go out sometime."

"You could tell them the truth?" Her mother suggested, but Besanii threw her hands in the air.

"You know that won't work."

They peeked out again, and suddenly somebody noticed them. They all began flashing their cameras and yelling up to them, and they quickly retreated behind the curtain once more.

"Then you ignore them, with your chin held high, and if they harrass you, they'll have me to answer to." The mother grinned devilishly, and her daughter mirrored her perfectly.

An uproar alerted them that the reporters were excited, and the curtains flashed from the light of their cameras. They both hurried to look, peeking through to see they had crowded somebody and shoving microphones in his face.

"Volkner's here." Besanii chuckled quietly, walking for the door. A hand came down on her shoulder.

"Let me get it." Her mother winked and passed her gently with her hand lingering.

Besanii sighed, throwing herself onto her sofa. The next contest battle was in an hour, and then they'd decide who she'd be facing in the semi finals. She knew she should have been at the contest hall to watch her potential competition, but the crowd outside seemed intent on making her housebound.

After battling his way through, Volkner had finally reached the front door and huffed with relief when he reached the living room. She smiled weakly at him, then stood up to fetch him a drink.

"Your Mom is speaking to Officer Jenny to see what they can do about the vermin problem." He told her, smirking lightly as he reached to the top shelf for mugs to save her the struggle.

"I'm surprised she hasn't snapped off some heads yet." Besanii snorted, her eyes focussed on what she was doing.

Volkner stayed quiet, watching her as she waited for the kettle to finish boiling the water. She felt eyes on her, and glanced over her shoulder to him. She tried to hide it by suddenly smiling, but he'd been watching close enough to see she was sad.

The kettle clicked, and she turned back quickly.

"Will Flint be back for my battle tomorrow?" She asked, concentrating as she poured the boiling water. Suddenly a hand came beside her, causing her to flinch. It took the kettle and put it down and the other hand was pulling her shoulder to turn her around. He was a lot taller than her, and she had to arch her back slightly to look at him. It didn't help that he was so close.

"He said he'll try his hardest." He informed her, then pursed his lips into a tight line. "Are you alright?"

She nodded, looking down at their feet. "This isn't pleasant, but I'll survive."

"It'll pass." He shrugged, unsure of how to console her, but knowing he had to try.

Thankfully, she did it herself, butting her head gently against his shoulder, knocking him back ever so slightly.

"I don't get why they hate me so much." She muttered. "What did I do?"

Tentatively, he placed an arm around her shoulders, noting how perfectly short she was to rest his arm on comfortably. "There's jealousy, and then there's spiteful jealously. Unfortunately, the industry you're in is prone to having spiteful people in. You're an exception."

"...It's not fair." She complained.

"No, not really. But that's reality, and you make the best of what you're dealt with. You hold your chin up and walk in like nothing has happened." He ordered her, only a slight gentleness in his tone as he reminded himself she was a little sensitive right now. Still, his firm hands pushed her lightly away from him so she could see the seriousness on his face. "And you don't dull your shine for anyone, Besanii. I will never forgive you for it."

She blinked in surprise, it felt like she was being scolded by her father, like when she was young. She had always wanted to retort instinctively, but deep down she knew her Dad was telling her off for her own good.

A smirk came onto her face at the thought. "Alright don't get your underwear in a twist, I promise."

The corner of his mouth upturned, and he released her. "Where's my tea, woman?"

She punched him in the shoulder and turned back to the tea. "Somebody rudely interrupted me. Sit down." She ordered.

"Yes ma'am." He ruffled her hair just to annoy her, then did as he was told.

She shook her head as she stirred the tea one last time, and threw a packet of biscuits at him. He caught it with ease, and without breaking any, then placed them on the coffee table.

"This room is so girly." He sniffed, the smell of lemon and lime assaulting his senses.

"That's because it's a girl's house." She stuck her tongue out, handing him his mug and slumping onto the sofa at the other end, tucking her feet under her.

She flicked the television on, and the coordinator channel came up automatically. The battle was well under way, one team a Wartortle and Chikorita, the other team Besanii didn't recognise.

"What pokemon are they?" She sucked in a breath, realising the threat this coordinator posed if she should face them. One of their pokemon was black and white, with the figure of a Rapidash but with no flames. The other was also black and white, but looked similar to a Kirlia in features, with little white bow-like features down its middle.

"That's a Zebstrika." Volkner pointed at the Rapidash-like pokemon. "What I wouldn't give for one of them." He added.

"What about the other?" Besanii asked before he could ramble on about the beauty of another electric pokemon.

He shrugged; "Some Unovan pokemon, it looks like a ghost type..."

She pursed her lips, cursing herself for not studying this trainer closer.

"The odds of them using those two pokemon again are minimal, right?" Volkner said, suddenly catching on to why Besanii looked and sounded so worried.

It only made her worse; "I have no idea what I might be up against!"

"Calm down! It's just like any other battle, you deal with what you're dealt with. Any coordinator could surprise you, even with pokemon you know well." He said; "I never knew you could do the things you did with RaiRai, and I have a Raichu too."

He was right of course, a top coordinator should be able to fight against anything well. It settled her nerves, but it didn't mean she couldn't focus on this trainer's style. Fortune favours the prepared, as she would say.

The coordinator was tall, and clearly foreign due to her sense of style. She looked the same age, if not older than Besanii. Though her features were big and innocent like a child's, she wore the expression of an adult, and commanded her pokemon expertly. With one more combination, she had swept the other team off their feet.

"And Kayla pulls off the dazzling fake tears-hyper beam combination to finish the battle off! Give it up for our last semi-finalist; Kayla!"

The crowd erupted, thrilled by the performance of pokemon they'd probably never seen before. Kayla bowed modestly, and her pokemon surrounded her as she patted them gratefully.

"And now for the semi-final match ups that will take place tomorrow!" The commentator reeled excitedly, and the television switched to an animation of shuffling cards. Besanii held her breath, knowing her face was under one of them cards. They straightened out into a line, and paired off, then finally they flicked over.

Besanii found her face quickly, and looked at her opponent.

Alyssa.

She hissed with excitement, it made Volkner jump.

"That bitch is gonna pay." Besanii decided, standing up and clenching her fists. "Which team to use... I'm so excited! Hmm..."

Volkner rolled his eyes and turned back to the television, watching as the concluded the contest for the day. He still didn't really understand the concept of contests, but he had to admit there was obvious skill in the coordinators.

Besanii started pacing the room, no longer paying attention to the television, and jumped when her parents and Jenny appeared at her door.

"Officer Jenny just wanted to talk to you." Mrs Demery told her, smiling at the policewoman.

The blue haired woman smiled and nodded, turning to Besanii. "I'm sorry that we're unable to disperse the crowd out there."

"It's not your fault." Besanii smiled.

"But we can escort you to the Contest Hall tomorrow to ensure that they don't get too pushy." She replied, nodding and looking to Volkner. "Though I'm sure they won't get too close with you around."

He smirked and nodded. "Thank you, we'll see you tomorrow then."

Besanii blinked at him, but said nothing. Officer Jenny nodded back and saluted, then left the house.

"Are you going to be here too then?" Besanii's face lit up.

Volkner shrugged. "I gathered you'd need the protection."

Mr Demery chuckled, patting a hand onto the gym leader's shoulder. "Good lad."

He went bright red, but smiled nonetheless.

"Anyway, I brought take-away," the father smiled; "thought you wouldn't want to cook."

"Thanks Dad." Besanii grinned, taking the bag off him and leading them into the kitchen.

"There's more than enough for you, Volkner." He added, ushering him into the kitchen too.

* * *

The day had drawn to a close, and her parents had taken their leave once the crowd outside had calmed. Volkner had dozed off on the sofa, and Besanii had curled up on the chair with RaiRai sleeping soundly on her lap.

"Besanii." Volkner suddenly mumbled.

She grumbled incoherently in reply, having been dazed on the edge of slumber's embrace for a little while herself.

"That Jesse guy..." He inhaled slowly to stop himself from heating up again over the eventful day.

"What about him?"

"You didn't know him before, did you?" He asked carefully, opening his eyes slightly to watch her expression. Her cheek was lightly pressed onto the arm of the chair, and her arms curled around RaiRai protectively. She didn't wince at his words in the slightest.

"I've met him twice in my life, both times within this week." She said evenly, then the peeped out of one eye. "Why? Jealous?"

"I have no reason to be." He replied smoothly, it made her smile.

The television suddenly turned loud as the programme they'd been ignoring switched to adverts which were obnoxiously high in volume. They both leapt up in shock, and reached for the remote. Besanii giggled when she accidentally grabbed at his hand and recoiled away politely. As if feeling a sudden rush of boldness, the hand she'd touched reached up and grabbed hers, and without looking, he pulled her onto the sofa and shifted onto his side so she had room to lie down in front of him. Her eyes were wide with shock as her body relaxed into the sofa and against him, and heat rushed into her face as his arm lolled over her stomach, hand still entwined with hers. She said nothing to voice her concerns, for they quickly dissipated as he sighed with content behind her.

With her free hand, she flicked through the channels, and she could feel him move to see better when she found a documentary about Zapdos. She smiled to herself and put the remote down, then closed her eyes and let him watch the programme.

* * *

**Delays, sorry, have some fluff.**


	24. The Morning After

**I HAVE MAJORLY FAILED.**

**I uploaded a chapter I'd written long ago for a later part of this fic, instead of uploading the actual next chapter. OH DEAR. I got a little confused when you were talking about Flint because he's not in this chapter, and then it dawned on me.  
**

**I'm a failure.  
**

**SO.  
**

**If you could, can you forget about that chapter some of you have read, (My Ipod shuffle challenge chapter) look back at chapter 24 and then read this real chapter 25? HAHAHA.  
**

**SORREH. MY BAD.  
**

He woke with his arm still draped over Besanii, only when he opened his eyes he realised she'd somehow turned over without him waking. Her toes had curled up close to him too keep warm, and her hands were folded between them. Her head had found his upper arm as a great pillow, which he didn't really mind except he couldn't feel his fingers any more. The only thing that stopped him from moving was that she was still sound asleep, and her face was rather angelically endearing. He shuffled slightly, and it stirred her gently to wake.

"Oh." She smiled sleepily as her body stiffened. "Good mornin'."

"Morning." He replied quietly, his voice gruff. He managed to move his arm and flexed his hand to let the blood run.

"I didn't realise I'd fallen asleep." She said sheepishy. "Sorry I blocked you in."

"I fell asleep too." He snorted, glancing at the television that was still quietly playing.

"Ah..." She nodded slightly, then sighed gently as she readied herself to stand. Before she could though, the arm over her tightened, pinning her down.

"You have to leave?"

She giggled as she tried to move, without success.

"I have to get ready for the semi-final!" She insisted, but he shrugged. The look in his eye unnerved her, and she shied away. "Volk..."

"What..." He grumbled, trying to tighten his grip around her more. She stiffened and arched away from him as casually as possible, but he wasn't stupid. He took the hint.

"I don't get it..." He said sleepily, slumping against the back of the sofa.

She frowned. "Get what?"

"You." He sighed, placing an arm under his head and peeping out of one eye. "You flirt all the time and then when I respond you can't back away fast enough."

She sat up sharply, causing him to flinch. Her eyes were accusing and fairly frightening. "What?"

"You heard."

"I wanted you to expand." She spat.

Sensing the tension he'd caused, he sat up as she stood. "I mean, I don't know where I stand with you." He wafted his hand toward her, and she took a step back out of the way.

"Where do you _want_ to stand then?" She crossed her arms over, arching a brow.

"Don't turn this around on me." He warned.

"I'd like to know what I'm doing here, Volkner." She threw her hands up exasperatedly. "What exactly have I done?"

"I..." He growled, stumped. He simply shrugged, staring at her as she stared straight back.

"Now I'll ask again." She said quietly. "Where do you want to stand?"

He stared at her, her face was completely calm and serene, and for some reason it threatened him even more. She waited, but he wasn't sure what to say. Things had happened so fast. The morning had been calm, and reason was catching up with him and he realised there was no going back.

Bravely, he stood and took hold of her face, leaning down quickly and planting his lips against hers. In his peripherals, he saw her hands come up instinctively, and her fingers curled in hesitancy, but she didn't move away, and he could only hope it was good news. He felt exhilarated, victorious even. She even responded, she had been reluctant, but not stupid. She kissed him, her nerves alight with excitement despite the small worry in the back of her head. Her lingering hands fell onto his arms, finding she was comfortable there, but it all felt wrong. Suddenly he was out of air, and he had to pull away to see her. She looked down at his feet before he could see her properly, and he frowned.

"Wow-"

"Volkner I-"

"-that was..."

"I can't."

He paused, his face falling back to it's usual frown. "What?"

"I-" She looked up, revealing her teary eyes. "I don't know whether I can Volkner, I mean-"

"What do you mean? Can what?"

"This... Us. It's not...

He nodded, swiping up his jacket. "Right, I see."

"No, Volk, you don't see-"

He spun around quickly, jabbing a finger toward her threateningly. "Stop calling me that!" He bellowed, snapping completely.

"Volkner," she corrected, "please try to understand..."

"Understand what, Besanii? Because I can see pretty clearly what's going on here." He made way for the door, but she gripped onto his shoulder and roughly pulled him back. He was surprised at how such a small girl could exert such force upon him.

"I've just broken up with Brawly... And after what happened yesterday... It could..." She pursed her lips, conflicted and frightened.

"I get it." He shouldered her away and storming down the stairs. She ran after him, calling his name.

"Don't bother, Besanii."

She paused mid-way down the stairs, her hand half stretched towards him as he stood at the closed door.

"I don't want to lose you." She muttered.

His stomach tensed, causing his shoulders to hunch, but neither of them were lacking in stubbornness, and he wasn't about to give in and be friend zoned. "You should have thought of that." He replied, whipping open the door and stumbling back as a rush of flashing lights assaulted his eyes. Even after his hesitation, he stormed headlong through them, giving them no reason to want to talk to him. They turned back on the door, where Besanii had clung to as she hollered after him, but could not follow without being confronted by the paparazzi. She gave up, closing the door and slamming her back against it. Her head hurt, and as she slid down to the floor, her head fell into her hands, tears already leaking away.

What had she done?

* * *

"And now we face the semi-finals! Where Alyssa will be facing Besanii in a fierce battle to find a place in the finals!"

Besanii pursed her lips as she looked over to her rival, who looked at ease with the confidence that she would be the one in the finals, despite having never beaten Besanii in any other contest.

"This is a double battle, and when either team is out of pokemon or points, before the time limit will decide the winner!"

Besanii inhaled, worried that she wasn't in the state of mind to be fighting this battle of importance.

_Don't dull your shine for anyone, Besanii. I will never forgive you for it._

She nodded to herself, and spun around, flicking her pokeballs in a graceful arch. They popped at the same time, releasing two streams of glitter in red and silver, revealing Weavile and Medicham. The looked to each other and smiled, knowing they worked very nicely together in terms of speed and types.

Alyssa grinned, throwing her team's capsules and revealing her two best pokemon, a Roserade and Vulpix, both of which Besanii knew were generously talented in a certain area. Vulpix was unnaturally speedy, even for a fast natured pokemon and therefore a problem for Weavile. Roserade, who must have only recently evolved, may have been facing an ice type, but it's offensive attacks were widely ranged and could be deadly. It was a shame that they were wasted on somebody such as Alyssa.

"And with five minutes on the clock, let the battle begin!"

Alyssa wasted no time. "Vulpix! Will-o-wisp!" She chimed.

Besanii grinned, suddenly focussed. Alyssa's style was always going to be sabotage before moving in for the kill, and she knew how to counteract it. "Light-screen, Medicham! Weavile, reflect."

The two worked together to create a slightly shiny barrier that covered them from both physical and special attack. They hadn't been paying attention to Roserade, who was closing in fast.

"Poison jab!"

Acting fast, Besanii pointed and yelled her defence. "Metal claw!"

Vulpix closed in on Weavile as it concentrated it's attack, but Medicham was already teaming up against Roserade with a fire punch at the ready so Besanii could focus on what Vulpix was doing.

"Toxic, Vulpix!"

More sabotage, Weavile turned in time to jump away from Vulpix, but unfortunately into Roserade's waiting poison jab, leaving it on the floor as poison kicked in.

Alyssa cackled, her pokemon turning on Medicham, who detected away to cover Weavile as it shook out the pain.

"Double shadow ball!" The two eerie spheres danced around each other spectacularly, firing at such a speed that Besanii almost lost herself in awe.

Medicham prepared, yelling its name at Weavile who was shakily getting to its feet.

"Weavile! Dark pulse!"

Medicham jumped in time to miss Weavile's wave of shadows, stumping the double attack in its tracks. To use this to her advantage, Medicham had instinctively jumped toward the opposing team as they jumped out of the way of the pulse.

"High jump kick! And then low sweep!"

The pokemon filled its orders accurately, slamming the Vulpix to the floor with one rolling kick, and as it landed, it swung itself around to knock the pokemon off it's feet once again.

"Metal claw, Weavile!" She commanded, on a roll. Weavile rushed in with impressive speed, but before it could reach and land a punishing blow, Alyssa had ordered a move Besanii had never heard of.

"Venoshock!"

It stopped Weavile in it's tracks, causing it to screech in pain. Besanii had no idea how to counteract it, and could only watch as Weavile collapsed in pain, barely lifting itself back up.

"Double Shadowball again!" Alyssa called, her face alight with excitement. Her team turned on Medicham again, who could only detect away. Several more shadowballs whipped around the arena, and one headed for Weavile.

"Medicham!" Besanii cried, frightened for her exhausted ice type. Fortunately, her psychic pokemon heard her cry, and appeared just in time to kick the attack back at Alyssa's pokemon, and Roserade wasn't fast enough to move in time.

"Besanii seems backed into a corner, with Weavile running out of steam fast, how much longer can Medicham keep up the defence?" The commentator reeled off quickly, observing the two panting pokemon as they stood close to one another and looked worriedly to Besanii.

"No." Besanii muttered. Defence wasn't going to get her anywhere, she needed to crack out some killer combinations to pull her into the lead.  
"Weavile, ice beam!"

The pokemon nodded, blasting toward Vulpix, who hadn't moved as both it and Alyssa had expected it to head for Roserade for obvious reasons. Vulpix was stuck on the spot, and Weavile ran straight for it.

"Surf!" Besanii yelled, then looked to Medicham; "Fire punch!"

The two set off, but Alyssa wasn't out. "Vulpix! Use flamethrower! Roserade, another Venoshock!" The attack was beautiful, the flamethrower sparkled through the poisonous liquid being hurled toward Weavile, and landed perfectly. Weavile was knocked off the wave, which crashed uncontrollably over the frozen Vulpix, leaving only Medicham and Roserade left in the battle.

"This is it, folks! Down to the last two pokemon with only one minute left on the clock!"

Besanii calculated her position, eyeing up how tired Roserade was. Naturally, a grass type pokemon would easily make pretty appeals alone, Besanii was going to have to work to make sure her slight lead was widened.

Alyssa planned on using her grass type's advantage. "Use Solar Beam!"

"Focus blast!"

Medicham nodded, spreading its feet apart and charging as much as it dared as Roserade did likewise. The crowd were silent with anticipation, the two pokemon eyeing one another to ensure it was the attacks that were colliding not their bodies. They released with a yell each, the brightly glowing attacks crashing together with loud noise and dazzling light. Most shielded their faces, and by the time it calmed down, the buzzer had gone off.

"After five minutes of intense fighting, Besanii just pulls through and into the next round!"

The crowd went wild, her ever growing fan base cheering her loudly. She bowed and hugged her pokemon proudly, stepping toward Alyssa and holding her hand out.

"That was an amazing battle, Alyssa, I didn't think I'd won." She said politely, though she did really want to rub it in her face.

The younger girl, who had faced more defeats from Besanii than anybody else, stared bitterly at the hand offered, but took it anyway. "I thought I had it too." She muttered.

"Maybe next time." Besanii said quietly, pulling her hand away and running for the exit. The battle may have been over, but there were far too many problems to celebrate her victory just yet.


	25. Support

Not expecting anybody to be in, Flint jumped when he spotted Volkner throwing back a drink.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, frowning as Volkner got up and headed for the kitchen.

"This is my house." He replied, not even glancing in Flint's direction as he pulled out two more bottles and chucked one in his direction.

"But Besanii is in the middle of the battle..." He muttered, catching the cold beer.

"What are you doing here then?" The gym leader said monotonously, slumping back into the couch and dragging the bottle opener off the table.

Flint followed, unable to piece anything together. He jabbed his thumb toward the stairs. "I wanted to get changed quickly."

"Go on then."

Flint frowned, putting the bottle on the table and doing as he was told without a word. His travelling clothes were grubby and sweaty, not to mention wet from the ridiculously heavy rain, so he had only wanted to change before heading to the contest hall. As he did so, he pondered over Volkner's strange mood change. He'd made it clear he'd intentionally missed Besanii's battle, despite having shown subtle excitement at her last one. Had Flint misread his best friend? Had Volkner only been faking it when he was around?

Without pause, Flint began down the stairs again whilst continuing to pull his shirt over his head.

"Are you alright?" He questioned delicately.

"Yep."

"Did you not want to see Besanii and Alyssa?"

"Not particularly."

"Oh..." Flint wasn't sure what to make of that.

"It will have finished by now though."

Again, Flint was stumped, why would Volkner know that if he weren't interested? He tilted his head curiously, but shrugged and headed for the door.

"I'm going to go and see her, do you need anything while I'm out?" The confused redhead asked politely.

"I'm good."

Giving up, Flint hurried out of the door and headed for the bridge to avoid pestering fans.

Volkner eyed the remote, frowning as if it were the source of temptation to see how Besanii had done. The television had a perfectly good battle on for him to watch, but it wasn't interesting him at all. He purposely flicked the remote away from him, and with the same hand picked up the bottle Flint had conveniently left unopened. With a sigh, he rested it on his stomach and stared at the television screen. The rain was still battering the roof and windows loudly, and it was sending him drowsy...

"Access. Denied."

He woke back up with a start. Completely disoriented of time, he sat up sharply and glanced to the door. The blurry figure of a red headed female was peering as best she could through the misty glass.

"What do you mean, denied?" An obnoxious squeal made its way through his front door. He'd made sure to block her from the voice recognition lock.

"Access. Denied." It repeated.

He closed his eyes, frowning when she began to hammer her hand against his expensive glass door and yelling through it.

"Volkner!" She shouted with another rapping. "I know you're in there! Please open the door! We need to talk!" Her voice was pleading but strong, it only made him more defiant. She waited, wondering whether he would respond, but knew that he wouldn't. So she continued, "I... I said it all wrong, Volkner! I need to explain properly, please!"

His fingers twitched, and to rid himself of temptation, he stood up and headed for the stairs. He could do with a nap...

"I can't go back to the way things were before we met... I... We're good together... Please open up..." Her voice was getting weaker, and she could feel a lump growing in her throat. She'd never been in this situation before. Sure, she'd had arguments with Flint, worse ones that this, but he would always come back to her. They would always make up, usually within the same day. It was clear Volkner was not like this at all.

Without realising it, tears had started to fall again. The rain was making her cold, and she wouldn't be able to beg much longer. She knocked a few more times, this time not expecting him to answer.

"Besanii."

She turned her head slowly, looking sadly at her brother, who had pieced most of things together. His face was sad too, like he was mourning for the friendship. With a kind smile, he reached out a hand to her, which she took reluctantly, allowing him to tow her to her home under his umbrella.

After monotonously relaying the argument to Flint, Besanii had withdrawn to her bedroom where she curled up in a ball and stared at her wall. Suddenly, everything went dark, and a pair of hands pressed against the towel that had been thrown over her. Flint rubbed roughly to dry her hair, and she couldn't help but smile at him.

"Things will be alright, won't they?" She asked quietly under the towel.

"Of course they will." He assured her.

"You think he'll forgive me?"

Flint snorted, "he's not mad at you. He's just sulking because he didn't get his own way."

She shook her head, pulling away from him and batting his hands away. "It didn't seem that way, Flint."

He flicked her forehead and smiled. "Who's the big brother here?"

"You are." She muttered.

"And who is always right?"

"I am."

He paused, then pushed her off the bed. "Hey!"

After a pitiful yelp as she crashed onto the floor, she waited there patiently. When she didn't reappear, Flint worried and peeped over the bed to see if she was okay. She sprung at him, tackling him against the bed and roughly landing on him. He huffed as she winded him, but chuckled nonetheless. It was always nice to see her smile again, but he still tossed her aside so he could breathe again.

Once they'd sobered, he nudged her with his knuckles. "Volkner is a sulky guy, you knew that the moment you met him."

"Yeah..."

"He won't stay mad for long."

"I hope not." She replied, snuggling against him as he opened his arm out in an invitation.

He rubbed her arm gently, noting when her breathing deepened and her muscles ceased to tense as she drifted into restless slumber.

"Oh Besanii. I can only hope I'm right." He sighed, knowing Volkner had never sulked over a girl before, and not knowing whether this was something he would forgive.

* * *

"Mrs Demery." He beamed, taking her hand and guiding her into the home. Her husband followed, and Flint slapped a hand onto his shoulder. "Mornin' sir."

"Good morning, son." He replied, grinning as he shook hands. "Good to see you back."

"No paparazzi out there today." Flint commented as he glanced out the front window.

"None at all."

"Good." Besanii grunted as she emerged from the bedroom, cave woman hair and all.

"Wow." Flint smirked, "Entei would envy that mane."

"Coming from you?" She stuck her tongue out, only to have her wrist swatted by her mother.

"Be nice." Mrs Demery scolded.

Besanii rolled her eyes and wandered to the kitchen cupboard where she yanked out the necessities for cereal.

"Did you have a nice night last night?" Mr Demery asked politely.

Flint eyed Besanii quickly, who averted her gaze to the breakfast bowl. Seeing that he had to answer, he pulled out his best grin. "Yes thanks. Just like old times."

The father raised an eyebrow, but knew better than to question the strange relationship the two had formed.

"What did you two do?" Besanii asked quietly, bringing her bowl to the table.

"We went to the lighthouse, seeing as tomorrow is our last day here, we thought we should see all the tourist spots." Mrs Demery chatted away, her smile serene as she remembered the beautiful evening.

Besanii smiled, "Volkner took me there, you should ask him to take you to the top floor, it's even more beautiful up there."

She hadn't noticed, but Flint had been firing warning looks at her while she chatted away without much thought. It suddenly dawned on her that they couldn't ask Volkner, he wouldn't be all that negotiable.

Flint coughed, "yeah, it's a shame you didn't ask him sooner, he's gone to league for a while to sort out his promotion."

"Oh, well that's a shame..." Mrs Demery sighed, not noticing the slight hiccup in the stories.

"He's doing well for himself, isn't he?" Mr Demery commented.

Flint nodded, taking over again so Besanii didn't have to talk about him. "He's worked hard his whole life, more than me actually, I'm just so darn blessed with talent..."

The parents chuckled, but Besanii punched his arm gently, shooting a thankful look when he pouted at her.

"So, Boo." Mr Demery interjected, "are you ready for the battle?"

"As I'll ever be." She smiled, though worry struck her as she realised this was it, this was the day when she could reach her dream or miss it entirely.

"There's no need to panic, Besanii, you've done so well up until now." Mrs Demery told her gently.

"Have you picked your pokemon?" Mr Demery added.

"Of course she has." Mrs Demery snapped quickly.

Besanii nodded, a twinkle of mischief in her eye. "You'll just have to wait and see."

* * *

"Flint..." Besanii said worriedly after she'd ushered her parents away to get good seats. He looked down as she tugged on his sleeve.  
"I'm not sure if-"

"Hey hey!" He interjected, placing a hand on her shoulder. "None of that, you're going to be fine."

"But Vol-"

"It's his loss that he's not here. Now you get back there and give it your all." He demanded. She still didn't seem certain, but hugged him and ran off nonetheless. She stopped at the doors to the arena, checking herself in the mirror to ensure she looked fit for the final of the biggest moment of her life. Her red hair flowed in big waves down her bare back, and her black, backless sequin dress sparkled even under the dim lighting.

She sucked in air and sighed it out again. Whatever happened between her and Volkner was now left in the changing room. With a quick check that she had the right pokemon with her, she stepped onto the platform that lifted her to the stage.


	26. The end of the road

"And here it is, folks! The one you've been waiting for! The final battle of Sinnoh's Grand Festival between two brilliant coordinators!" The commentator rambled excitedly. Besanii's platform rose with a sudden jolt, and the sound of excited cheering rang into her ears. Even as nervous as she was, she couldn't help but beam with anticipation as she came into view.

"On my right we have the unbeaten rookie of Sandgem town, give it up for Besanii!"

Despite her recent press issues, the crowd had stayed kindly loyal to her, and it brought a tear to her eye as she waved to them.

"And on my left we have the illusive dark horse from the unknown land of Unova, let me hear some noise for Kayla!"

Besanii looked over to her opponent, the one who had quietly made her way through her contests and indeed through the Grand Festival. She had successfully blind-sided Besanii, but that did not mean she had won. The two smiled at each other and took their positions, waiting patiently as their spotlights dimmed and the stage was lit brightly.

"Release your two pokemon!"

Besanii flicked them both together, singing their names as she did so. "Salamence! Swampert! Time to shine!"

Kayla smiled sweetly, and mimicked Besanii's gesture; "Swanna, Whimsicott, let's go!"

Besanii frowned, neither of these pokemon were recognisable. She studied them as best as possible, and all she could come up with was the white pokemon was definitely a flying type, the fluffy one was a grass type.

It was a start.

"You have five minutes on the clock! And begin!"

Besanii set off straight away with offence. "Swampert, use Earthquake. Salamence, dive and use flamethrower!"

Kayla tilted her head, but went with the obvious response. "Swanna, to the sky!"

The Whimsicott did not hesitate to join the Swanna by leaping onto its back with precise timing as the white pokemon took to the skies.  
Besanii made note of the webbed feet of the Swanna. It was a water type too.

Her pokemon were hard at work, carving the floor to their liking, whilst Salamence dove into a weak point in the ground, and set the fissures on fire. It made landing Kayla's pokemon exceedingly tricky.

"Leech Seed!" Kayla yelled up to her pokemon, and the Whimsicott nodded, leaping off of Swanna. As it fell, vines suddenly shot out from the great ball of wool it wore, creating a huge mesh that was covered with little brown seeds. Once it was sufficiently sized, the Whimsicott pulled away from the mesh, and was swept up by Swanna before it could land in the flames. Both Salamence and Swampert were distracted, and were caught under the web. Swampert roared in pain, but Besanii was quick to counter.

"Ice Beam, straight up!"

With Salamence free of it's grass binding, it expanded it's winds and shook off the debris then took to the sky as well. It circled the ice beam that was quickly becoming a solid pillar.

"Iron tail!" Besanii added, and her pokemon used it's glowing tail to shatter shards of ice in the opponent's direction.

"Whimsicott, tailwind! Swanna, bravebird!"

"Kayla shows off her spectacular combination as her team ignites in magnificent blue flames blown around beautifully by the increasingly strong winds." The commentator exclaimed in awe. Salamence simply braced itself, and took the attack.

"Swampert, use surf!"

Although it put out the fires, Swampert lashed out a huge jet of water that propelled it upwards, and Salamence took it's place behind the shield of water.

"Giga drain!"

"Block it Salamence! Dragon claw!"

With surprising grace for such a large pair of pokemon, Salamence flew through it's team mate's tidal wave, causing a beautifully glowing splash as Swampert flipped backwards and fell to the ground, successfully dodging the attack. Salamence deflected the Giga drain with it's continued claw attack, fighting against the resistance to meet it's target. However, just before it reached, the two pokemon dodged under Kayla's command, putting Whimsicott back to the floor, while Salamence cornered Swanna from rescuing it.

Besanii smiled, sure in her movements now.

"Ice Beam!"

Swampert raised itself onto its hind legs, powering up a huge ice beam.

"Puff up, Whimsicott!"

The small grass pokemon nodded and grinned, expanding its wool and readying itself, for what, Besanii did not quite know. As Swampert fired, Whimsicott somehow flew away, without jumping or moving at all.

"Wow!" The commentator exclaimed; "Kayla is using her Whimsicott's unique ability to ride the air currents! How can Besanii counter this?"

A bead of sweat came down her face, as she watched Salamence dance around with Swanna, attempting to psych each other out.

"Air cutter!"

"Thunderfang!"

The two attacks collided, causing the two flying types to come crashing down toward the floor, dust scattering everywhere. Unfortunately for Whimsicott, the tiny creature got caught up too, and flew high up in the air, unable to control itself.

"Flamethrower, and quick!"

Salamence tried, but Whimsicott just flew around it once more.

"Solar Beam and Aqua Jet!" Kayla grinned, watching as her newest combination came to life. Besanii recoiled, helpless as all her attempts to deflect it failed, and Swampert took a super effective hit along with the powered up collision of Swanna who had slipped past Salamence's guard. It stumbled to the floor, and stayed there a while before struggling up to stand. To make matters worse, the two attacks combined were not only powerful, but the water refracted the solar power around the stadium to create a magnificent appeal.

"Besanii's points are hit heavily by that beautiful water and grass combination!"

She growled lowly, watching as her tired water type placed it's heavy arms beneath it to keep itself upright. She had to think of a comeback, and fast.

"Salamence, Draco Meteor!"

It nodded, raising high up into the air and summoning a mass of large rocks from nowhere and using a mystical energy to set them all ablaze in an array of coloured flames.

"Now Ice Beam!" She commanded to Swampert. Whimsicott continued to dodge them by riding the waves away, but Swanna was having trouble avoiding them. Salamence closed in on it quickly.

"What a come back! Besanii closes the gap in points with a stunning frozen draco meteor shower!" The commentator applauded.

"Grass knot!" Kayla ordered. Whimsicott suddenly stopped, expanding its cotton and wrapping around Salamence before it could fly away. With the barrage of meteorites ended, Swanna was ready to attack once again, and Salamence was unable to move. Gravity pulled the two entangled pokemon to the ground, and Swanna executed a dive to get in close range for the final attack.

"Flame thrower!" Besanii cried in panic. Swanna dodged. Salamence couldn't focus or escape, the bird pokemon was readying an ice beam, surely the last blow.

"Earthquake!" She suddenly blurted, and many of the crowd gasped. Surely it would take Salamence down too, it was not in the air, it could not avoid it. Still, Salamence nodded to her and glared at the Swanna, waiting it's command. The ground rumbled and cracked, rattling the two pokemon about and causing them both to cry out.

"Salamence!" She yelled, "thunder fang! Now!"

The ice beam landed, but with heavy focus, the large dragon type ignored the pain and took grip of the Swanna's wing, pulsing electricity through it's water type body, and causing the ice beam to wobble away, freezing up Whimsicott.

"Swampert!" She didn't need to say more, it was already running to aid it's team mate, smashing apart the frozen bonds and kicking Whimsicott away as Salamence tossed Swanna toward it. Kayla cried out for her pokemon, but they weren't responding fast enough anymore.

"Surf and dragon claw combination!"

They set off, Swampert driving forward on a rush of water as it lifted up into a huge tidal wave as Salamence shot through the waters with a glowing paw once more.

"Ice beam!" Kayla squealed. Swanna shot, but Salamence was too quick, freezing the surf just before it hit them.

Besanii grinned at this perfect set up. "Earthquake, once more!"

The solid wave shattered into tiny sharp pieces, hailing down on the opposing team as Salamence flew away just in time to miss it completely.

"And time's up!"

Besanii's eyes shot up to the screen, hope sparking within her. The points were both down to their final quarter, and it was far too close to see who was the winner.

"And the winner is...!"

The screen flashed, and her breathing hitched, it was as if time had stopped, or the screen was broken. She wanted to scream and shake the commentator, but she couldn't bring herself to move in case she missed the unveiling.

"And Kayla takes the title! Our newest Top Coordinator!"

Her heart sank.


	27. Fresh start

Having changed back into her usual attire of skinny jeans and a plain shirt, she pulled a hoody over her head and kept the hood up. If she hurried, hopefully nobody could catch her to want to chat. It was the last thing she wanted to at the time.

She peeped around the door, and noticed her coast was clear, and sped walked for the door. There was a rumble of the crowd chatting excitedly, and she ran along the wall, nobody noticing her. If she could just reach the door...

Red light seeped in from the setting sun, and she stepped out into the cool evening breeze.

"Besanii."

She flicked around and sighed, Flint had been waiting outside for her, knowing her too well even when she'd never been in this situation in her life.

"Not now Flint, I want to go home." She sighed, starting to walk.

"But the reporters will want to talk to you." He frowned, chasing after her.

"No, they'll want to talk to Kayla."

"You're not bitter, are you?" He teased, nudging her. She shrugged him away and glared.

"No Flint. But if you hadn't noticed I've just lost the biggest battle of my life so I'd appreciate it if you got the hint and left me alone!" She yelled, shoving him as hard as she could.

He frowned. "Whoa! Don't take it out on me! I was just trying to-"

"-well just don't! Leave me alone, Flint! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" She turned and stormed down the street, growling when she heard him coming after her.

"You know what? I have done nothing but support you! You're being a spoilt br-"

"-don't say it!" She warned.

"No, I am going to say it!" He shouted. "You manipulate everyone to suit yourself, and when one thing gets out of hand you flip out like a wild animal! No wonder Volkner has had enough! I don't blame him!"

She couldn't help herself. She lashed out without a thought, her hand swiping across his face as hard as she possibly could. Her palm stung, and she knew he was feeling it a lot worse by the way red flushed to his cheek.

"My point prov-"

"I never thought that could possibly come from you. You of all people, Flint!" She muttered, turning away before she hit him again. "Get away from me."

Stopped short, he placed a hand on his cheek and rubbed gently.

* * *

Temptation was annoying him today. Just one quick flick couldn't hurt, could it? His hand picked up the remote, and his hand shook, his finger toying with the buttons.

A part of his mind just hated the torture of not knowing. The other part wanted him to not care. That part overwhelmed him, and in retaliation, the remote clattered against the wall, making a louder noise than he'd expected. He turned to what actually made the noise, and saw Flint had slammed his expensive glass door shut.

"What are you doing back?"

"Going in the shower." He muttered back, in such a quiet, angry tone that Volkner was shocked.

He followed him up the stairs. "What's wrong with you?"

"Get lost, Volk." Flint snapped.

The blond stopped on the step he'd just climbed, and watched this stranger stomp up them and into his room.

Now he really did want to know how the match had gone, though he had a sick feeling in his stomach that he knew what had happened. He hurried back into the living room, and picked up the remote, which had fallen apart.

Scowling, he threw it again and began stabbing buttons in the television set. It'd take forever to find the coordinator channel...

"For crying out loud!" He yelled.

But he didn't need to reach that specific channel, it was already all over the news.

It wasn't the face he'd hoped he'd see.

He didn't want to see any more, he pulled out the plug socket.

* * *

"Besanii, let me in. Please? Our flight is soon, we want to see you before we leave. Are you there? Besanii?"

She was there, and as terrible as she felt for ignoring her parents, she really did not want to see anyone. RaiRai grumbled quietly at her feet, and she hushed him as she stared into empty space.

"She's not there?"

She had to hold her breath to stop herself from hissing in reaction to this new voice.

"I don't think so, I wanted to say goodbye to her before we go home." Mrs Demery sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

"I don't think she wants to talk right now." Mr Demery said, "she'll call us when she's ready."

There was hesitation until Mrs Demery finally replied. "You're staying here, aren't you Flint?"

"Of course, I'll be here a while." He assured her, causing Besanii to scoff.

"See, she has Flint, and we're just a phone call away." Mr Demery said. "She's a big girl, she'll pull through this."

She stood and headed for the kitchen. She didn't want to hear them talking about her anymore. RaiRai followed her, his constant stare fixed in a worried expression.

* * *

The sun had been gone for quite a while, and the street lamps were now the only source of light. He knew the streets well, of course, so he could have walked them with his eyes closed.

Flint had not been happy when he'd returned, mumbling something about not getting into her house.

He'd played it cool, and feigned ignorance as he slipped out of the gym with the spare key to Besanii's home.

All of the lights were off when he got there, all except for the flickering of a television. He followed it, and found nothing. RaiRai suddenly shot around the corner, crackling threateningly. He stopped as soon as he saw it was Volkner.

With a quiet nod, he followed the tiny pokemon into the kitchen, and found Besanii had fallen asleep at her table. Red, messy curled hair splayed everywhere.

He smiled gently, and sat her up. She stirred a little, but wasn't fully awoken. Carefully, he slipped one hand under her knees and the other under her arms, and lifted her with surprising ease.

She recoiled as the television light seeped in through her eyelids, and as she got used to the light, she opened them and oriented herself.

"Volk?" She whispered groggily. "-ner."

He chuckled and looked down at her. "Boo."

She cringed, but smirked all the same. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to check you were okay. Flint's been worried sick."

"Good." She said quickly, causing him to frown, but knew better than to ask.

Gently, he placed her down on her bed, and pulled her covers over her. She simply watched him in awe. Not a day ago had he said he wanted nothing to do with her, but in the hour she needed his specific company the most, he was there without prompt. That thought reminded her that she needed to talk to him. She grabbed his wrist gently before he turned to leave.

"Stay."

"You should sleep-"

"Please." She muttered, looking at her lap.

His body twitched for the door, but he couldn't bring himself to take the steps when she looked like she was on the brink of tears. What was this power she had over him? He desperately wished he could break free of her hold, but at the same time, he hoped she would hold on tighter. With a sigh, he sat down.

"I'm so sorry." She said quietly, her voice weak and timid. He looked at her with wide eyes, unaware that she could bring herself to be so vulnerable. Her hand slipped down to his, and he held back.

"Forget it." He insisted. "I've had time to reflect, and I can see why you said what you said."

"But I-"

"I just wish you'd see my point of view." He said quickly, interrupting her.

She stayed quiet, wondering whether he was going to continue. He didn't. She shuffled uncomfortably, unsure of what to say. She didn't want a third argument in two days.

"It's alright you know." He told her.

"What is?"

"Not winning." He muttered, smiling weakly.

She pursed her lips. She wanted to disagree so badly, but she also wanted to forget about the subject, so she hoped that keeping quiet would cause him to change subject.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

"Flint and I met at a trainer's convention. I'd gone there because I heard they were scouting for potential Elitists there. I thought if I could become an Elitist, I would meet the champion, and could beat her after fighting the toughest challengers. It turns out, Flint had the same plan too. I was over-confident. I was a great battler even then, I beat everybody I went against, but Flint was better. I'd never seen anything like it before, he was so quick at reacting and his pokemon were fearless. He ruined me. I'd never felt so useless. It felt like I had failed my pokemon."

Having listened intently to his story, she had failed to realise tears had welled over her eyelids.

"I-I didn't know..." She whispered, "I didn't realise... I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He smiled weakly, "I learnt a valuable lesson from it, and gained a best friend through it. Plus I would never had met you if Flint and I hadn't become friends."

She smiled gently, her heart aching at the story.

"What I mean to say is... There's always a silver lining to a loss, you just have to wait for it." He explained.

The silence drifted over them, and eventually she yawned.

"Go to sleep Besanii, we can always talk in the morning." He insisted, but she shook her head.

"You're not leaving, are you?"

He pursed his lips. He knew if he stayed, it was only going to hurt him even more. He couldn't leave her in the state she was in though, especially after boring her to death with his life story.

"No... No I'll stay."

She beamed for the first time after the battle, though she looked down at her lap instinctively. Despite his exterior, she knew he was a gentle soul who had been tortured with boredom. He knew how to look after her, and at that moment, he was exactly what she needed. She had the distinct feeling that he needed her too.

"Volkner?"

He hummed a sign of acknowledgement.

"I do see your side now."

He looked at her quickly, and she peeped up from behind her eyelashes shyly.

He coughed in surprise and scratched his head. "So what... What happens now?"

She did not answer with words, but instead pulled at his hand so his body followed, and he instinctively knew to find her lips that were waiting. She knelt up, their bodies so close that nothing would get in between them except for her own hands that found his collar bone as his found her neck. He wasn't letting go this time, her lips felt too soft to leave alone, her body too cold to not keep warm. Her breath eked out wherever it could, and he knew they would not last forever in such a tight embrace, so he just pressed closer to her, holding on for as long as he could.


	28. Right

Sleep wasn't coming to him any time soon, despite being completely exhausted, and slightly intoxicated still. He sighed, wriggling his fingers as he realised he'd let her lie on his upper arm again and was stopping the blood flowing. She moved her head upon feeling him tense.

Carefully, he brushed her bangs from out of her face and ran his fingers through the rest of her hair. It was soft, despite having been curled and sprayed to death. He chuckled as she wrinkled up her face, and it woke her up.

"Sorry." He muttered, trying not to startle her.

She looked at him, then smiled as she looked at the clock.

"What are you doing awake at four in the morning?" She groaned quietly, turning back to look at him.

She felt him shrug.

"Thinking."

A smirk played on her lips. "About?"

"Different things. Mainly how I can't feel my fingers."

It took her a moment, but she moved quickly. "Sorry."

"That's alright." He breathed as he curled his arm into himself and clenched his fingers a few times.

She sighed sleepily, and forced her eyes open to look at him. She could tell something was eating at him. "What's wrong?"

He looked at her, and then back to the ceiling. "I'm fine."

"Volk..." She rose an eyebrow sceptically, then quickly added, "-ner."

He chuckled, rolling onto his side to look at her properly. "You can call me that, if you tell me your proper name."

She pursed her lips and cringed. "I'd rather keep correcting myself, thanks."

His frown burrowed downward. "Why not?"

"Why can't you just call me Besanii? Everyone else does anyway." She insisted.

"Because I want to know."

She sighed, watching him as his stare deepened. She smirked. "Nope. You'll just have to wait!"

"But I-"

"Nope! What, so you kissed me once and now you think we're sharing all secrets?"

"Twice actually." He corrected. She smiled at how she'd successfully sidetracked him.

"Three times."

Volkner frowned, but it soon disappeared as she made it true. A chuckle rattled through his throat as she craned her neck back in. "Since when were you that corny?"

She frowned. "I can be cold and distant like you if you want?"

He slapped his chest with a fist. "You cut me deep, Boo."

They laughed quietly together, then settled back closer together.

"Besanii." His voice rumbled through his chest more than it left his mouth. She glanced up to usher him to continue. "How did you meet Flint?"

She smiled. "I moved to Sinnoh when I was about five...Six, maybe. That would have made Flint..."

"Eight." He answered.

"Yes, about eight. I didn't make any friends, especially not girls. I used to sit alone at lunchtime, until Flint spotted me. He came and sat next to me and I remember he said, 'Hey Boo, you got a name?' in that goofy voice he has, only higher pitched and squeaky. Within the day we were friends. By the end of the month we were inseparable."

"It must have been hard when he left." Volkner assumed.

She was quiet for a moment. "...It was. We'd spent years together, without a day apart. I cried all the time." She welled up at the thought. "I tried to stay strong, and I smiled when he phoned me."

"I remember him disappearing for an hour every night." Volkner chuckled.

She smiled. "Yes, seven until eight o'clock."

He nodded, the memories playing in his mind. Flint had never told him where he went every night, but he'd always known it was someone special to Flint to get such consistent time with him.

"Then don't you think you should make up with him tomorrow?" He asked her.

She looked up at him and studied his face, wondering how much he'd worked out from what she had not told him. When she settled back against him, she sighed. "I suppose so."

He smiled.

* * *

Despite the day before, and the fact she hadn't slept too long, she woke up in a shockingly good mood. Glancing to her side, Volkner's head lolled onto her shoulder, his mouth slightly slack and his knees curled upward. RaiRai had somehow wound himself between them, his tail draped over Volkner's stomach.

Quietly, she rolled his head off her and slipped out of the bed, heading for the kitchen. She figured he would appreciate breakfast in bed, considering his robots usually did it for him any other day.

The sudden shuffling of feet alerted her that she was not the only one conscious any more.

"Morning!" She said brightly.

"Urgh..." Was her reply. She giggled and turned around to look at his grumpy, tired face.

"Good sleep?" She teased, only to receive a glare this time. It only made her chuckle more as she turned to make coffee.

He inhaled slowly and made his way over to her, taking the frying pan off her and putting it to the side. "You're not cooking."

"Why, are you?"

He shook his head, ushering her to her bedroom. "No, I'm going to take you out for breakfast."

She frowned, tripping through the doorway. "It's one o'clock in the afternoon...?"

"Lunch then." He shrugged, pulling on his jacket and ruffling his hair.

Raising an eyebrow, she smirked at him. "Like a date?"

He rolled his eyes back at her. "If you want to call it that."

"Give me a minute then, I need to do my hair-"

"No you don't." He pulled her back from the bathroom. "You look great."

Despite her insecurity, she let him persuade her to leave her home with yesterday hair.

"So what's this about?" She asked, arm linked in his as they walked for the cafe across the square. "Are we taking a step back and dating first? Seems a bit weird..."

He smiled weakly, then opened the cafe door. "Well, I was thinking it wouldn't be right to... Well... you know... Jump the stages. I thought we should do things... right."

She laughed as she took a seat. "Volkner, nothing about our relationship is going to be right."

He shrugged. "Well let's at least try."

Sitting back in her chair, she folded her arms and rose a brow. "No more kisses until the second date."

"Fine."

"And no more stopping over at mine." She added.

"Definitely not."

"And we can't spend all the time together until we're official."

"Oka-" He paused. "But we did that before anyway. Pretty much. Shouldn't you make new rules for this relationship?"

She wagged a finger at him. "That wouldn't be 'right', would it?"

"Hmm..."

"Can I take your order?"

"Mmm... Curly fries with cheese would be amazing." Besanii grinned.

"Make that a large and we'll share." Volkner added.

The waitress nodded, completely unfazed that she was serving the most important person of Sunyshore.

"So..." Besanii clasped her hands together and rested her chin on them. "How's your Elitist training going?"

He nodded back to her and began fiddling with his cutlery. "Good. I have a battle later actually, which means I'll have to leave you for a while."

"Which is what we said, right?"

He sat back in his chair. "Well... You said."

"You can't have it all." She said in a-matter-of-fact way.

He shrugged again, pouring himself a mug of coffee.

"So, who's going to replace you as gym leader when you become an Elite?" Besanii asked.

"They don't know yet." He replied after he finished his mouthful. "I thought they'd move Candice up, but she won't move from Snowpoint."

Besanii nodded. "I don't blame her. She wouldn't cope very well in this hot climate."

Volkner agreed. "So if she won't take Sunyshore, they need to find somebody who's stronger than her to take it."

"Well where will you find someone like that who's not already a gym leader?" She wondered.

"That's the problem, and until they find someone, Bertha can't retire, and I can't be promoted." He explained.

She pursed her lips. "There'll be someone. They'll turn up when you least expect it."

"Speaking of which..." He chuckled, eyes out the window and on something outside. Besanii followed his eye line and froze as she met Flint's eye. He stood facing them, his face resigned and quiet.

"No time like the present."


	29. Kiss and Make Up

"You should talk with him." Volkner said, starting to stand.

A hand caught his. "No, we're on a date. He can wait."

He rose an eyebrow. "You know you want to sort things out with him."

"But I-"

She was interrupted as he leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "You'll be fine. He's more likely to cry than you, remember."

She sighed and watched him leave. He passed Flint just outside the cafe and shook his hand as they exchanged a few words she couldn't make out.

"Here's your fries."

She jumped and looked up. Volkner had left. There was no way she was eating all of those!

"Hey." Flint muttered as he sat at the table.

She nodded slightly, saying nothing as she stared at her lap. They were silent for what seemed like an eternity, and Besanii refused to look up.

"Besanii I-"

"I'm sorry." She said at the same time. Flint stopped short, surprised with her apology. "I _have _been vain, a-and ignorant and neglecting you. I guess for all these years I've taken you for granted and..." She looked up with teary eyes. "I'm so sorry, Flint. You've been here for me my whole life and it's about time I appreciate that. You're a brilliant, kind, slightly annoying but beautiful gentleman."

He smiled weakly. "You're not ignorant. A little vain yes, but never ignorant. I shouldn't have said what I said. Especially when I did."

"No, not really." She muttered, smirking slightly.

"...So, are we good?"

She nodded back at him. "We're good."

"Great!" His voice shot up in volume, causing the people in the cafe to jump and stare. "Then Volk won't mind if I help myself right?" He pointed at the fries and began shovelling three into his mouth at a time. She giggled and tucked in herself.

"So." He spat through a mouthful of potato. He waited to finish his mouthful after a stern, disgusted look from Besanii. "You and Volkner?"

"What about it?" She arched a brow.

He shrugged. "'s'about time."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure my father has been thinking the same about us two." She then heaved at the thought of her and Flint having anything more than a platonic relationship. She had repeatedly drummed it into her parents that she and Flint were never going to be anything more than friends, and it only got harder to convince them when he became what they would see as the perfect son-in-law/Elitist/handsome, charismatic man. She was sure they desperately wanted her to eventually marry him, but they would have to settle with adopting him if he were to become official family.

Flint chuckled, having known how good they would have been together, had they not grown up fighting and playing like siblings. Anything more would have been weird. "You could do a lot worse than me." He teased.

"And a lot better." She retorted, but then paused. "Why, do you-"

"NO!" He yelped, jumping so fast that he nearly spilt coffee everywhere. When everyone had politely averted their gazes after his outburst, he turned back to her and lowered his voice. "Not at all. You and Volk work so well together."

She turned a light shade of pink, glad to receive his blessing, not that she doubted she would get it. "I thought I'd lost him." She muttered. "But he came back, when I needed him, he came without me asking."

He smiled. "He may seem heartless and cold at times, but he's very observant. I think he'd worked things out just from me. And I said nothing."

"Shock, horror." She interjected sarcastically.

He just narrowed his gaze, but continued. "So what happened?"

"We talked." She shrugged.

Silence.

Then laughter. "Whatever, Besanii. You can't fool me."

"I'm not fooling you. He cheered me up, I fell asleep, he did too."

"You slept together!"

"Not the way you're implying, no." She rolled her eyes. "Stop being so filthy minded!"

"Can't help it."

"Yes you can."

"Fine." He sighed.

Besanii smiled gently, her eyes falling to her tea as she stirred it. "Flint?"

"Yeah?"

"I think... I might be falling for him. Hard."

Flint pursed his lips, his eyes alight with excitement. "Have you told him this?"

"No. And you can't. I'm not saying anything until he does. He's not the best at... Emoting, and the worst thing I can do is to be all over-emotional and confess to him and then scare him off."

"But Besanii... You should tell him how you feel. He's a grown man, he can take it."

"Let me do this my way."

"Of course, it's not my place to say anything." Flint shrugged. "But you should tell him."

"Oh shut up."

"Besanii's in looooove." He teased, tapping her nose. She swatted him away and stuck her tongue out.

"I'm not in love with him. I just... Care for him. A lot. It's hard to explain." She sighed.

Flint seemed to know anyway. "It's more than just liking someone, but you're not at the getting married and having kids in love yet."

"Exactly."

"Besanii and Volkner, sitting in a tree..."

"I'm leaving now." She said quickly, standing sharply and pulling her bag over her shoulder.

"Oh sit down, stupid." Flint chuckled, yanking her arm to sit her down. She glared at him playfully, but did not struggle. He smiled knowingly back at her, completely relaxed. "My little sis, all grown up."

"Yeah, s'bout time you did some catching up, eh?" Her eyes narrowed.

He held his hands up and chuckled. "Hey, when it happens, it happens. But I've got other things to think about at the moment."

She nodded. "I take it you're on the search party for Volkner's replacement."

"How did you know?"

"I'm dating a gym leader."

He snorted. "Yes I am. Which means I have to leave for the league tomorrow for a meeting, and then I'm probably going to be travelling for a while, searching for anyone who could possibly take the position."

"Oh." Besanii said quietly, remembering the conversation she'd had the night before. She looked down at her lap, twiddling her fingers as she tried to remain nonchalant.

"Hey." Flint's great, masculine hand came down on hers. "I'm not going to be gone long. There's no way in hell I'd miss you and Volkner forming a relationship." He laughed.

She failed to see the humour. "It'll be nice to have some peace and quiet in Sunyshore anyway."

He beat his chest. "You cut me deep, Boo."

"I try." She shrugged. "You'd better be back for my birthday."

"Of course. I wouldn't miss it for the world." He chuckled. "Plus, travelling means I can get you a good present."

She grinned. "And an apology present?"

He grimaced. "Can't your bracelet be a sorry present?"

"I suppose..." She pouted, though she was only kidding, but it was enough to cause Flint to sweat.

* * *

"Glalie is unable to battle. The victory goes to Volkner!" Flint chorused, having judged the match for him. The challenger both of their hands and left, unusually upbeat for somebody who had lost.

"He's optimistic." Flint commented.

Volkner hummed in agreement. He headed for his balcony, where he would rest with a cup of coffee. Flint followed suit, kicking his feet up onto the balcony's fence.

"Go on then." Volkner sighed. "Ask what you want."

Flint peeked out of the corner of his eye at him, then closed them to tilt his head toward the sun. "I know everything already."

The blond huffed. "Whatever happened to a girl not kissing and telling..."

The elitist laughed loudly. "There was never such thing, Volk! No girl can keep a secret, especially an exciting one."

Volkner rolled his eyes and the use of his unwanted nickname again. "Grand."

"Jealous?"

"Of?"

"Me being told by Besanii first?"

"Why would I be?" Volkner shrugged. "Saves me the effort."

"She didn't tell me who initiated though." Flint said quietly, wafting his face with a magazine Besanii had left lying around.

"Why would that matter?" He frowned, even more so than usual.

Flint perked a brow. "So I know whether to kick your ass or not."

The Gym Leader rolled his eyes and said nothing. He knew Flint was giddy with excitement that his little cupid plan had worked. There was no way he would even attempt to ruin the relationship he would claim he worked so hard to forge. So what difference would it make if he kissed her first or vice versa? In fact, he couldn't even remember. They'd talked for a long while, and Besanii had said something...

"Do you love her, Volk?"

He blinked out of his thoughts and stared at Flint with wide eyes. He was staring straight back, his usually mischievous expression now one of seriousness.

"I-I..." How could he answer. If he said yes, would that freak Flint out? Would it freak himself out? But if he said no... That could be dangerous for his own health. "It's a bit early to be thinking about that, isn't it?"

Flint chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Volkner sighed in relief, twisting in his chair uncomfortably.

"You like her though. I can see that much." Flint smiled in that annoying 'I know everything' kind of way.

"We'll see how things roll out." He decided, staring out to sea while his thoughts scrambled frantically through the happenings of the past 24 hours.


	30. Remedy

The day had moved through it's course too fast, and Besanii instinctively knew when Flint felt it was time to leave.

He stiffened, his long limbs going rigid as he stretched them out and shook slightly, then snapping them back to hold her again.

"I'd better get going..."

She tightened her hold around his waist, refusing to let him budge. "Do you have to?"

"I do." His voice rumbled deeply through his chest and into her hear which rested upon it. For once, he cheerful tone was missing, leaving behind a sober, quiet Flint that very rarely made an appearance. "I have to be at the league for eight."

The two glanced up at the clock slowly, silently hoping they had another hour. Quarter to eight.

"Oh ffff-fireballs!" He hissed, leaping up and throwing her off him. She sprang to her feet too, scrambling for his shoes.

"You can take Salamence... It'll be fine. Just send him through Nurse Joy." She hurried, knotting his trainer lace as he pulled on the other.

"No it's alright. The ferry is waiting for me specifically. It shouldn't take long." He insisted, finishing the other shoe. Once done, he stood, taking her hand and pulling her up. The hurry abruptly stopped, and he looked down into her eyes, not needing to say anything with words.

"You won't be gone long?" She asked quietly.

"Hopefully not." He muttered, pulling a hair behind her ear. "I could be back tomorrow, for all I know."

"Fingers crossed." She replied quietly, looking at her fingers so she didn't have to endure the look in his eyes. Suddenly, arms were around her and abruptly pulling her toward him, her face crushing into his chest.

"I'm gonna miss my Boo." He told her.

"I'll miss you too. More than you know." She mumbled, her voice muffled by his shirt.

He tore himself away, checking she was alright, but equally aware of the time that was ticking away to his deadline.

She nodded. "I'll walk you there."

They walked in companionable silence, never losing contact with each other, but also not looking at each other in the eye. Besanii knew that if she did look at him and saw sadness, she would not be able to hold back the tears that threatened to break the dam.

She glanced up at the docks as they approached, and it was not a ferry waiting for him, but a speed boat. The driver looked up from his paper and grinned.

"Good t'see you, thought you weren't comin'." He chattered happily in his thick foreign accent. He heartily took Flint's hand and placed his other onto his shoulder. He eyed Besanii suddenly and held out a hand to hold hers. "And who do we have here?"

"Besanii." She introduced herself, blushing as he kissed her knuckles.

"James." He grinned as he gave her hand back, and mock nudged Flint. "You did well there, son."

Besanii flushed bright red, looking straight at Flint, who rolled his eyes down to her. "Yeah, she's pretty amazing."

"You comin' along, Miss?"

"No, just to wave you off." She replied, giggling shyly.

He nodded and turned to Flint. "I guess we'd better hurry. You're late y'know."

"Yeah, sorry. Lost track of time."

James raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more about it. "I'll get the motor running."

Flint nodded and turned to Besanii. "I'll be back soon."

"Okay."

He peeled himself away reluctantly and hurried onto the boat, glancing back at her as the machine rumbled to life.

"You take care, okay?" He demanded.

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you?"

He ignored her jab. "And Volkner too."

"Of course." She rolled her eyes, trying hard to keep the humour until he was too far away to see otherwise.

He nodded as the boat set off. "See ya, Boo."

She smiled, unsure of her voice so she chose to stay quiet. As he pulled further away from the docks, he began to wave like a small child, and forever duty-bound to humour him, she waved back. Once he was too far to see her properly, she allowed herself to cry.

Suddenly, an arm is draped tightly over her shoulders and she allows her to be tugged into the crevice of -who she assumed to be- Volkner's arm. She felt him jolt her slightly as he waved too, but she didn't have the strength to look him in the eye too. Once Flint was gone and out of sight, she slipped from his grip and started for her home.

Though Volkner wasn't going to let her go while she looked so sad and lost. He caught her hand and tugged her back toward him in such a way she instinctively turned and just crushed herself into him. She buried her face in her hands and her hands in his chest, a broken down sob ripping through her throat. His arms curled around her. He mumbled soothing words, albeit awkwardly, to her and ran one hand up and down her back in an attempt to comfort. He wasn't the best at it, but he was determined to try.

"It's just like last time..." She whispered, her tone hinting to hysteria. "I couldn't follow him the last time, and I can't now because..." She stopped, letting another sob loose.

"Because what?" Volkner asked quietly.

She didn't reply, instead she twisted her hands to grab onto the lapels of his jacket and clutch them desperately.

He shuffled awkwardly. What could he do? He had no experience to draw upon, no sisters who had cried to him, and he'd never had a girlfriend long enough to see this kind of emotion. But he'd known Besanii for so long now. He knew he couldn't just stand there. The harder her clutched her, the more she sobbed. He was like a young trainer bringing up a newly hatched Togepi; entirely clueless.

Until inspiration struck him.

"You need to stop now." He said in what he felt was the perfect tone for the situation. He wasn't too harsh, but demanding enough to catch her attention.

She hiccuped and looked up at him. "What?"

"Flint wouldn't want you to be like this, would he?" He said firmly.

"No..." She sniffed. "No, I guess you're right."

"Of course I am. I'm always right." He said cheekily as he wiped the back of his index finger under her eyes. She shied away from him as he was a little too rough to be comforting, but she appreciated the thought.

"Come on, you should go to bed." He insisted, taking the hand that was wiping her face.

She looked at the contact briefly, and then shyly up at him. "I... I don't want to be home alone."

He pursed his lips, unsure. "You want me to stay there?"

She thought about it, then shook her head. "Can I not stay at yours?"

"Of course you can." He said without thinking.

She smiled gently, allowing herself to be towed toward the gym.

* * *

They entered the house, and he dropped her hand to take her jacket and handed it to the waiting robot. She smiled at how normal it felt to be back at the gym.

"Tea?"

She nodded hastily. "Decaf, please."

"Right." He muttered as he made for the kitchen. She glanced nervously after him, and then leapt up the stairs, silently like a Persian.

What was she thinking? Poor Volkner, having to deal with her emotional break down. They'd only started dating that day! She put her reddened face in her hands and cringed. Oh dear oh dear... And she didn't even have any nightwear with her. She needed something...

* * *

He placed the teapot on the robot's tray and it followed him dutifully toward the lounge. However, he stopped in his tracks as he saw Besanii down the hall. Wearing his shirt. It was a light blue one that he hadn't worn in years, but somehow she'd found it in the time it took to make tea. It was baggy on her and was the length of a short dress, but what made matters worse was that she wasn't wearing anything on her legs, and the sight made his mouth dry up. The tea suddenly seemed necessary.

"I hope you don't mind... I didn't have anything to sleep in." She muttered, her hands pulling down the bottom of the shirt.

"Not at all. Forgot I had that shirt." He said quickly, making sure to deliberately watch how he poured the tea. The last thing he needed was to scald his hands. As he took his time, he realised things had gone quiet.

"Hey, are you alright now-?" He stopped just as he turned to look at her, sat at the breakfast bar, her elbow failing to prop up her slowly falling head as it tipped drowsily. Suddenly the sensation must have alerted her, and she recoiled upright to wake up and see his amused smirk.

"Perhaps decaf was the wrong choice..." She mumbled.

"Well that's good because I forgot to put decaf in." He shrugged, handing her a mug. She giggled sleepily and rubbed her eyes, then gulped down a load of the scalding hot tea. He watched in bemusement.

"How are your pokemon?" He asked politely.

"Good, Nurse Joy said I should leave them to rest there until tomorrow, then they should be fine." She replied, her smile diminishing slightly, but she fought to keep it there.

He frowned, more so than usual. Things weren't going so well for Besanii at the moment. He pursed his lips as he realised the only thing that was going right (or at least he hoped was going right) was the beginning of their relationship. With that thought realised, the end of her sentence from earlier was suddenly answered for him.

_"I couldn't follow him the last time, and I can't now because..." _Because of him. Ouch, the stab of the guilt knife was blunt but forceful, it still pieced him painfully.

_Maybe she was right. Maybe now isn't such a good time. _He pondered.

"Volk!" She suddenly shrieked, leaping up from her seat as she pushed the mug that was in his hand upright. He blinked out of her thoughts in shock and flinched, aware that she had just saved him from an accident that wouldn't be pleasant. She carefully took the mug off him, and placed it on the counter.

"That was close..." She muttered, smiling gently. Her hands were rested on his knees, and one foot was still hooked on her barstool. "Breathe." She whispered, and he exhaled at her command. Her smile was unlike any other he'd seen before, even in it's serene form, it was still bright and dazzlingly alluring. Her eyes sparkled along with her upturned lips, and the bottoms of her teeth scraped her bottom lip. Tantalizing.

"Damn the rules." She decided, unhooking her foot and stepping closer, her lips finding his with coordinated ease. Her hands ran up his torso and along his neck, finding his hair and hooking her fingers into it. His found her ribs, and he slid them around her back to pull her torso close to his, and he swore he could feel her racing heartbeat pulsing against his chest. She shivered beneath his fingertips and pushed her hands past him to rest her upper arms on his shoulders, now unable to get any closer to him. Their bottom lips parted from each other for a second as they gulped for air, only to lock them once more mere moments after.

And then as suddenly as she was upon him, she was parted from him, only her hands touching his collar bone slightly as his fingers curled helplessly around her waist.

"Goodnight, Volkner." She whispered, making it known that she had mastered her inner seductress.

He coughed to clear his throat. "Night."

She walked away, swaying her hips knowingly as he watched her bare legs. Milky white and toned from her journeys, they were gloriously shown in what was now his favourite shirt.

"Take a photo, it'll last longer." She called over her shoulder, slipping up the stairs and leaving him to stare in bewilderment.

"Damn..." He hissed, looking at the spilt tea he didn't remember tipping over. All he wanted was a cold shower and his warm bed. Or something else to remedy the situation.


	31. Take Two

He glared at the receiver like it was the source of evil. It lay there against the video phone like it hadn't bore the terrible news he'd dreaded to hear. Running a hand through his hair, he squeezed his eyes shut, a groan escaping his throat. If only he hadn't answered. If only he'd gone to bed earlier. If only he'd stopped at Besanii's instead.

He dropped his hands into his lap. There was no going back now, no point in dwelling in the if's.

With a sigh, he stood, and headed for the stairs. In his wardrobe, he pulled out his old back pack and with it a wave of nostalgia washed over him. He hadn't touched it since he'd first stepped into the gym, the gym that had been specially built for him, all those years ago. It lightened his heart, and he began filling it with clothes for the journey.

* * *

The quiet sound of breathing whispered through the crack in the door, and he carefully peeled it open wider. Besanii lay curled in a ball, her arms tucked into her knees that were pressed against her chest. She had thrown the covers off her some time in the night, and was now cold to touch as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Besanii..." He muttered, shaking her slightly to wake her. She flinched at she movement, and her eyes opened blearily to search for the culprit.

"Volkner?"

"It's me." He assured her, sitting on the edge of the bed. "You need to wake up."

"Why?" She whispered, looking at the clock. "It's four in the morning..."

"We have to go to Johto." He sighed. "My parents want to meet you."

She was quiet for a moment as she pondered that.

"Sorry..." He muttered even quieter. She tilted her head as he continued to whisper. "I guess we can't do things all that normally."

She giggled sleepily. "I don't think we were ever going to be normal, were we?"

He looked up at her and smirked. "I guess not."

She stretched her arms up and shuffled out of the bed. "When do we have to go?"

"Half hour." He said with all seriousness. She stared at him blankly.

"But I need to pack-"

"Done." He smiled, gesturing to her bag by the door. She blinked, and his smirk turned to a grin. "I stopped by your place and grabbed a load of clothes. I figured if there's anything you need while we're there, we can go shopping."

Not failing to note the promising prospect, she was still frantic with panic. "But I need to fetch my pokemon-"

"Done." He said smugly, patting his pocket.

"Nurse Joy can't have liked that." She muttered, frowning.

"I have privileges." He shrugged.

"That you abuse." She retorted.

He shrugged again, and she rolled her eyes.

"Well, I need to shower. Unless you've done that too..." She said sarcastically.

"No, but I can help you if you want?" He grinned, closing the gap between them and slid his hands around to the back of her waist.

She perked a brow. "You'd like that wouldn't you?"

He mumbled something in agreement, but couldn't reply as she reached up and planted a kiss on his lips. Her hands brushed up to his shoulders, and pushed him back suddenly, freeing herself from his grip.

"Go and fetch some snacks for the journey." She demanded, hurrying into the bathroom and locking it before he could follow.

He snorted, and set off to do as he was told.

* * *

"So how did you parents find out about us?" Besanii asked quietly as the flight attendants when through the safety procedures.

"I dunno... News I guess." Volkner replied quickly, glancing out the window to see the aeroplane was moving. He pulled the shutter down.

She nodded, glancing down at her hands. She had to get used to this kind of publicity, not only was she a finalist of Sinnoh Coordinators, she was also dating Volkner, gym leader promoted to elitist. That was a lot of attention she was going to receive.

The hand next to her gripped onto the arm rest at the acceleration of the plane. She followed the arm to see Volkner squeezing his eyes shut as he rested his head against the chair.

"Uhh... Are you alright?"

"Fine." He muttered, opening his eyes and looking at her. He couldn't hide the panic in his eyes, no matter how hard he frowned.

She pursed her lips, scrutinizing him. He was usually so calm and collected.

He closed his eyes again, concentrating on not screwing them shut.

"Vertigo?" She muttered.

"No." He snapped, turning red when an air hostess looked over at his outburst. He lowered his voice. "I suffer from severe acrophobia."

She frowned, watching as he fidgeted, his face draining of the flush he'd endured earlier. She placed a hand over his and locked her fingers between his.

"Hey." She whispered, leaning closer so her nose was at his ear. "That's okay, you know. We all have fears."

"Mm..." He breathed back, it was calming to have her so close, the way her breath tickled his ear was distracting him fantastically.

"Can we swap seats?" He asked her quietly, looking her in the eye. She didn't even ponder over the question, she nodded and unlocked her belt.

"Miss? You need to sit down! We're about to take off." An air steward called from her seat. Besanii nodded and looked at Volkner who was shuffling onto her seat. She sat on his lap and he helped her to shift onto the window seat, her legs tangling with his. They giggled as they pulled their seatbelts back on, and then she held her hand out.

* * *

"Where are we?" Besanii whispered, just waking up from her nap.

"Goldenrod," Volkner said, who'd awake for the entire taxi journey after having been in a medicinally-induced coma during the flight. Besanii had tried her best to calm him, but she ended up giving him a tablet to knock him out.

She smiled, staring out the window to take in the scenery.

"I'll show you around, if you want?" He offered.

She grinned and nodded. "Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow." He promised, bemused by her excitement.

"Wow, your parents live here?"

He nodded. "We had a holiday home on the outskirts. They loved it here, so they brought their business over and expanded it."

"What do they do?"

"They own a chain of restaurants." He told her carefully, eyeing her reaction.

"So we're going to be fed well." She assumed, nodding and smiling.

He snorted, but stayed quiet. She continued to scan over the tall buildings.

"Where to, sir?" The taxi driver asked.

"The next right, then follow straight down to the bottom." He instructed.

Besanii suddenly started, looking down at herself and then at Volkner in horror. "I need to change!"

"Wha-"

"I'm meeting your parents!" She cried, scaring the taxi driver. "I can't go like this!"

Volkner frowned at her. "Well you can't change here."

"I can and I am." She insisted, whipping up her bag and glancing at the taxi driver. He was staring wide eyed at her in his rear view mirror. "It would be best to watch the road." She suggested to him, he blinked and then nodded, focussing back on his job.

Volkner turned bright red, watching her with wide eyes.

"You don't have to watch if you don't want to." Besanii teased. He flushed, averting his gaze to his lap. By the time they were at the end of the road, approaching his parent's home, Besanii placed her feet over his legs. They were clad in patent cream peep toe ankle sandals with a tiny little bow on the side of the strap.

"Why did you pack my contest shoes?"

He shrugged, his eyes running along her legs and up to her floral dress and cream cardigan. She was pinning her Beacon badge onto the dress as she smiled at him. "Better?"

"You looked fine anyway."

"Better?" She repeated, pulling her hair to sit neater.

"You look amazing." He rolled his eyes, placing a hand onto her ankle.

She grinned.

"We're here." The taxi driver muttered, careful not to look back at them.

Volkner nodded, stepping out and offering a hand to Besanii. She took it and giggled. "Ever the gentleman."

He perked a brow, but said nothing of it as he escorted her to the house.

She gasped. It was no house. It was a mansion, with fantastic white brick and glass windows covering the whole of the front. A golden glow shone through them, and from where she stood she could tell the house was beautifully furnished.

They approached the door, Besanii notably closing the distance between herself and Volkner, and he knocked gently on the large white door.

She cowered closer. "You never told me you were so... Upper class." She whispered.

"It's not something you shove in people's faces when you're being polite." He told her in a hushed tone. She couldn't reply as the door opened. Volkner tugged her from behind him, and she forced a smile.

"Master Lane!" A feminine voice chorused from the woman who stood at the door. Besanii's eyes widened. This woman looked nothing like Volkner and was definitely too young to be his mother.

"Daniella," he acknowledged her, and tugged Besanii inside. "Would you inform my parents of our arrival?"

Besanii blinked at him, noting his sudden change in demeanour. It was like his usual self that she knew was just a mere mask of this rich-boy personality.

Daniella nodded, "of course, sir. May I take your coats? Miss..."

"Demery." Volkner informed her. Besanii blinked at him, but made sure to thank Daniella as she scurried away.

"I need to change too." He muttered, gently pulling her toward the glass staircase. She was careful to make sure she didn't trip, staying close in tow. This place was getting more and more intimidating by the minute.

He led her into a room at the back of the house, and it was also covered with floor-to-ceiling windows. On the wall adjacent to the door was a metal four poster bed draped with white silk. The floors were beautiful wood that shimmered in the setting sunlight, and the shelves on the wall were covered with old books.

"This place is amazing..." She breathed, taking in the scenery out of the window. She walked closer and peered out onto wonderful gardens, where she could see from a distance some beautiful Johto-native bug types.

A pair of hands wrapped around her torso from behind, and Volkner's chin rested on her shoulder. They looked out of the window together. "That's the national park, and in the middle of it... That was my parent's first restaurant in Johto."

"It's beautiful. Maybe we could eat there one of the nights here?" She asked quietly.

"That sounds good." His voice rumbled through his chest.

"Umm... Master Lane?" A timid voice muttered after a light tap on the door. Volkner turned quickly, stepping apart from Besanii as the door opened slightly, and Daniella peeked through. "Your parents are waiting for you in the Drawing room."

"Thank you." He dismissed her, and offered his hand for Besanii to take. "Ready?"

She inhaled, glancing him over once. He had changed into smart, dark jeans, a white shirt and brown cable-knit jumper and a darker brown tweed jacket. The window reflected back a smart, handsome young couple, hand in hand, and she nodded.

"Ready."


	32. Judged

"Mother, Father? This is Besanii." Volkner stepped aside to unblock their view of his girlfriend. Though shyness was unusual with Besanii, she found it crippling at this time.

Still, she stubbornly lowered her shoulders and held her hand out with a warm smile on her face. "Mr and Mrs Lane, it's great to meet you!"

Anybody with eyes could see these people were the parents of Volkner. Mrs Lane, a tall, strikingly beautiful middle-aged woman, had wonderful blonde wavy locks that sat beautifully neat on her head unlike her son's. Her face was angular, with slanted eyes and sharp cheek bones, which were all enhanced with immaculate make up. Her clothes also did not fail to impress. They were very clearly designer, and she wore a fantastic set of Clampearl jewellery around her neck and in her ears.

His father was dark haired, but his features greatly resembled Volkner. They had the same low brow and shockingly blue eyes beneath them, and he was equally long and slim like his son, though perhaps a little shorter. Still, Besanii felt practically dwarfed by the overly tall family.

Mr Lane nodded quietly, and Mrs Lane took her hand gently. "You as well, finally." She eyed Volkner with a slight sense of bitterness in her voice. He squared his shoulders and lowered his gaze.

Besanii chuckled quietly. "We apologise that we didn't come sooner, we've both been very busy lately."

Volkner's father nodded, his naturally narrowed eyes slipping into an even smaller line. "Yes, we've heard. Congratulations on making it runner up."

"Thank you." She replied, bowing her head. She couldn't help but not the slight sound of falseness in his voice, but she ignored it.

"Come, sit." Mrs Lane ordered gently. Nobody disobeyed. Mr Lane found his comfortable spot in his large leather chair with a footstool close by. Mrs lane perched herself on the arm of it. In turn, Volkner tugged Besanii to sit on the loveseat, knees close together and hands still entwined so he could calm her. She glanced to him quickly, and he was already looking at her, a smile quickly perking up the sides of his lips, but not reaching his eyes.

"Where are you from, Besanii?" Mrs Lane asked, clearly the initiator of conversation in the family.

"Hoenn, originally, though I grew up in Sandgem Town." She told her, feeling like she was being interrogated, the way the parents were clinging to and analysing ever word she said.

Volkner squeezed her hand to tell her things were okay, and it gave her a little strength.

"Besanii is Flint's sister. He introduced me to her a while ago now." He told his parents, anxious that Besanii was feeling assaulted by all the questions and that he wasn't helping by staying silent.

Mr Lane was nodding as his son spoke. "Where did you meet?"

Besanii suddenly giggled childishly. "I accidentally trespassed on his beach. I was new to Sunyshore, so I didn't realise it was private."

The parents smiled again.

_Give me strength to get through this. _She begged herself internally, casting a glance to Volkner, he looked almost sympathetic. Is this why he apologised for having to bring her? Had he wanted to prepare her for this? Or was he hoping that they wouldn't get serious enough to get to this point? Her heart sank at the final assumption, and it only made the situation harder for her.

"Would you excuse us, please? I think Besanii's a little tired, and you know how I am from flying." Volkner stood, pulling Besanii into his side.

"Of course, you've had a long flight. Are you sure you wouldn't like something to eat?" Mr Lane asked, standing too.

"I'm okay thank you." Besanii smiled.

"Me too." Volkner added. "We'll see you in the morning, when we're all refreshed." He smiled weakly.

"Well, good night you two." Mrs Lane bid them farewell, though she didn't seem too impressed by her son impolitely cutting the introduction short.

"Good night." Besanii chimed as they left the room, and the moment she was out of sight, her muscles seemed to go slack all at once, exhaling in a rush. Volkner pressed a finger to his lips and pulled her up the stairs quickly.

She pursed her lips and nodded back to him, hurrying into his room as he closed the door behind her.

"Are you alright?" She asked quietly.

"I'm fine." He replied monotonously, shrugging out of his jacket and slumping onto the rocking chair in the corner of the room. He placed a hand to his face, his thumb and index finger rubbing into his eyes and his sinuses, a light grumble rumbling through is throat.

Besanii stood frozen by the door, unsure of what to do with herself, not knowing how to console this completely different person in front of her. So she settled for doing what she knew would help. She knelt in front of him, and proceeded to take his shoes off.

"Thanks." He muttered, removing his hand and looking down at her. She smiled weakly up at him.

Quietly, she took his hand and tugged him to stand, his hardened expression silhouetted by the silver light of the moon seeping in. He frowned down at her, but she knew it was not her fault it was there. Instead of words, she pulled him close and wrapped her arms around his waist, he was warm and seemingly welcoming to her embrace, so she placed her cheek onto chest and sighed.

"I'm sorry." He whispered into her hair.

"For what?"

"Bringing you here, having to face my parents." He explained, guilt evident in his eyes as she tilted her head up to look at him.

"There was no avoiding it, Volkner. It's not so bad." She told him, reaching up to kiss him gently. He didn't refuse, but his frown only deepened.

She had a feeling she'd only seen the half of it, the way Volkner glanced nervously at the door.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Please talk to me."

He sighed and shook his head. "You're tired. Go get ready for bed."

She slipped out of her shoes, leaving them where they were and gently pushed him toward the bed, and sat beside him as he lay back and closed his eyes.

"Volkner?"

He hummed in acknowledgement, but did not open his eyes.

"How long are we staying here?"

He sighed. "A week, maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Hopefully we can get out of it."

She pursed her lips, deciding not to say anything.

"Besanii?"

It was her turn to groan her reply. He smirked.

"Thanks for coming."

"Geez, you're getting rather emotional lately, time of the month?"

He stayed silent, and she snuggled closer to him.

"You're welcome."

Sleep wasn't going to catch up to her any time soon, she had far too much to think about. Volkner had worn himself out through sheer panic during the flight, and was asleep within minutes. She occupied herself with listening to his deep breaths, wishing she could read his mind.

What must it be like, to have a family you want nothing to do with? What had driven him to be so distant from them? Is that why he was so naturally distant from everyone?

She closed her eyes, loosening her grip around his torso. She simply didn't know what she would do without her parents, and she definitely couldn't see herself ever not loving her parents whole-heartedly and unconditionally. Not only that, but her parents loved her back tenfold... Each! Volkner's parent's didn't even embrace him upon their reunion.

One thing was certain, if she told him that she loved him, it was certainly going to freak him out.

Silently, she slipped out of bed, and into the bathroom. She needed to get rid of all the emotions before the morning arrived, she needed her brave faced for the morning.

* * *

"What are they?" Volkner chuckled, staring at her choice of sleepwear.

She looked down at herself and frowned back up at him. "Flint's pyjama bottoms and t-shirt."

He eyed them with a magnificent glint of humour, the Torchic pattern emblazoned all over them repeatedly, and her ridiculously clashing blue t-shirt so snug on her figure it should be illegal. "You're not going downstairs like that." He insisted, shaking his head.

"Why not?"

He perked a brow, and she shuffled to get changed.

"We'll go shopping later." He told her, and her eyes lit up.

* * *

Having changed into her sugar brown palazzo pants and white chiffon sleeved shirt with a wide pussy bow, she checked on her tidy make up, smoothed down her straight hair and stepped into her contest shoes. She eyed herself in the mirror, praying that the outfit gave the illusion that she was a little taller than her actual height. She doubted it, she was bound to be compared to her giant boyfriend and his equally tall parents. She sighed and slipped down the stairs, listening as Volkner answered his parent's inevitable barrage of questions.

"-hope you courted her correctly, son."

Volkner coughed. "We're not from the sixties, father, things don't work like that any longer."

His mother tutted, "Nonsense, you've been brought up better than to just... Just 'shack up'." Her tone turned to that of disgust at the last part.

"We didn't shack up." Even Volkner seemed a little repulsed by the idea. "We've been friends for a long while, and we have only recently been dating."

"Well she's an attractive young lady, but do you see it lasting?" His father asked seriously.

"Of course, why wouldn't it?" Volkner asked defensively.

Besanii pursed her lips, her back pressed against the wall. Surely she shouldn't be listening to this, and probably didn't want to either. She went to slip back to the bedroom and pretend she hadn't heard anything.

"She's a little young, Volkner. Do you think she's going to take this seriously?"

Volkner groaned, getting agitated. "Age has nothing to do with this, Besanii is very mature and has already shown that to me, and will show it to you too if you haven't judged her completely already."

"That's not what we're saying, son-"

"Right okay, well I'm taking Besanii out for a tour of Goldenrod for the day. I'd like it if this is rethought about, please." Volkner snapped, his footsteps making it clear he was leaving. Neither of the parents said anything.

He stormed out of the room, and started and Besanii, who stared at him with wide eyes. He sighed, and wrapped an arm around her. "Let's go shopping." He muttered, towing her out of the door.


	33. Couples

"I like this one." Volkner mused, eyeing up a golden dress covered in tiny hand stitched on beads that glimmered even in the industrial light the shop provided. He knew his voiced opinion deserved to be mocked, and Flint would never have passed up on the opportunity, but for some reason, Besanii had missed the chance entirely.

Upon inspection, he wasn't even sure she'd heard what he had said. He cleared his throat, and she was brought back to life from whatever thoughts had consumed her.

"Oh..." She mumbled, quickly taking in what Volkner had in his hand. "Yeah, it's nice."

"Nice?" He tilted his head, quite certain that she would usually be ecstatic he was even taking her shopping, let alone assisting her in it and the reasonable chance he was going to pay for some of it too.

Yet she didn't reply, and her eyes started scanning slowly over the stand of individually placed shoes.

Truth be told, she didn't feel like shopping. It was a rare occurrence, and it quite frankly scared her, but she couldn't help but dwell on Volkner's parents brash judgements. She would have usually brushed them off without a second thought, but with the confidence losses of losing the grand festival and being criticised by both Volkner and Flint lately, the words the parents had hit a nerve. It was like her thick skin had been slowly hacked at, bit by bit, started to heal, but the last stab had easily broken through.

Maybe she was too young... Did that equal immaturity? She pursed her lips, sure she was immature at times, but she was also able to be serious when the situation called for it.

But when she entered the Lane household, she'd thought she'd been mature then... Was she still immature without realising it?

She shook her head, unable to wrap her head around it. What had she done wrong?

"Hey..." A hand wrapped around the side of her shoulder. She jumped at first, but it was warm and familiar, so she leaned into it as it snaked across her front to hold her close. Volkner's breath tickled at her hairline on the back of her neck, and his arm had found itself across her collar bone.

"Are you okay?"

She didn't answer for a second, allowing herself a piece of serenity as she realised how comfortable she was in the security of just one of his arms. He added the other across her stomach and pulled her back into his chest. She exhaled gently, feeling the tension being forced out of her.

"Don't listen to them." He grunted. "They think I'm still a failure because I'm not the top Elitist yet."

"What?" She hissed, all the tension suddenly within her again.

He shrugged. "Until I'm champion, I don't think they'll ever be happy." He laughed humourlessly, "maybe even then they'll say I'm not the best champion."

She tugged from his grip and turned to see he was being completely serious. "Aren't they proud of you?"

"Sure, they congratulated me when they heard the news of my promotion. It still didn't stop the quick remark from mother than I 'still had a way to go'..." He rolled his eyes, then frowned again.

As terrible as hearing that was, it did ease her worry that there was something wrong with her. It wasn't nice to know someone thought of her that way, but if they were clueless enough to not see the successes their son had earned, then they surely couldn't size her up properly.

Quietly, she nodded and wrapped her arms around his waist, feeling his immediately clamp around her shoulder blades and his fingers run through her hair.

"I'm proud of you." She muttered, smiling lightly.

"That's all that really matters." He whispered into her hair, then pushed her back to see her face. "Go try that dress on. You'll need to look good tonight."

"What for?"

He grinned, "Well we're in Goldenrod, one of the biggest cities in the world. Did you think we'd visit and not check out the night life?"

She blinked, suddenly glancing around. Pleased nobody would hear, she hissed in reply. "I'm not old enough for another month."

He shrugged, thrusting the dress into her hands. "Please, you're with me, the Sinnoh Elitist."

Smirking, she snatched the dress from his clutch and wandered to the changing room.

* * *

"What else do you want to do today?" Volkner asked, desperately aiming to please Besanii, given her poor reception when her parents had been so welcoming to him. It also gave him the opportunity to distract himself, and the bonus was spending time with her without Flint pestering them.

Guilt suddenly swept through him at that thought, he loved Flint, he was the brother he'd never had, and the friend he would always have. Yet waves of jealousy would consume him whenever the lumbering idiot took Besanii in his arms, and their undeniable bond that he would never understand.

Besanii snapped him out of his guilty conscience with her laughter. "You're not even listening to me, are you?"

"Sorry, pardon?"

She grinned, hooking her arm in his and swinging her legs as she walked. "You've changed your accent."

It wasn't a question, and he frowned. "Have I?"

"Yes. It's like you lose your formality when not around your parents, and now you're all... Upper class." She mused.

He snorted. "I'm not upper class..."

"Sure."

"I'm not!" He protested, nudging her with his elbow. She narrowed her eyes to him playfully, but didn't question it further.

For some reason he thought to explain himself. "I haven't been here in years... I didn't feel the need to speak... properly around trainers my age. I lost the formality, but I guess being here has brought it back."

"You never lose your roots." She agreed.

"I guess not."

"How about there?" Besanii pointed, and Volkner frowned in confusion. The sudden drastic change of topic and thrown him off guard, and he could only follow the finger she was pointing at to realise what she was talking about. The building she'd indicated was huge, but not tall, like a stadium. On the front was a huge sign with "Battle Colosseum" emblazoned across it. The sign next to them had more detail about what this arena was about.

_'Face the toughest trainers in Johto!  
Enter the single or double tournament,  
and find out how strong you really are!'_

A grin flashed across Besanii's face. "Let's enter together!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, why not? I know your battle style, you've watched me enough, we're both one of the toughest in area of expertise in Sinnoh, why not?" She reeled off the list like it was simple, yet Volkner frowned.

"I haven't trained-"

"So what? This is for fun!" She tugged him toward the door. "Come on, imagine our Raichu together!"

He did imagine it, and her Medicham enhancing his electricity attacks like she'd said about before. The thought appealed to him so much he allowed her to tow him to the sign up desk.

"Hello there, and welcome to the Battle Colesseum, is this your first time here?" The woman glanced between them, drinking in Volkner as much as she dared to.

"Yes it is." Besanii said as pleasantly as possible with her boyfriend being checked out right in front of her.

"Right! I'll need your Trainer IDs..." The receptionist flushed scarlet, and nose dived into her computer. "Names?"

"Besanii Demery and Volkner Lane." She informed her curtly.

Volkner grinned behind her, amused by the display of jealousy.

"For the double battles?" The lady assumed.

"Yep." Besanii snapped.

The woman now seemed vibrantly aware that the short girl from across the counter was ready to pounce if she looked at Volkner suggestively again, so her eyes stayed firmly on the computer screen as she reeled off the rules with a slight waver in her voice.

"The next double battles start after the singles matches are complete. It should be about half an hour. You may enter two pokemon each. During battles, you are to release one pokemon each and you may not swap pokemon. Prohibited pokemon are on the list behind me."

They both looked, chuckling at the list.

"Has anybody even captured a Ho-oh?" Besanii muttered.

"There are a few people who battle with lengendaries, there's a Frontier brain who trains with an Articuno." Volkner explained.

Besanii's mouth popped open. "Wow." Was all she could choke out.

"The pokemon you're entering are?" It was now the woman's turn to be impatient and short with them.

"Umm... Salamence and Vaporeon." Besanii decided. Volkner frowned, a little disappointed he wouldn't get to utilise Medicham's attacks, but realised what Besanii had done instead. She was, of course, aware of Volkner's one vulnerability with his team; Ground types. Both Salamence and Vaporeon would be able to cover him in that respect, whilst also giving her the choice of speed and brute strength. He nodded, impressed.

"And you sir?"

"Jolteon and Electivire." He decided, also choosing his fastest and physically strongest pokemon. Plus he wanted to see the two diverse Eevee evolutions at work together.

"Great, you're all set. Here are your passes." The woman pulled out two cards that had their names and their ID pictures on, and clipped them into a lanyard. "They'll get you into any rooms past this point," she indicated to the door on her right that had a card slot above the handle, "and will open your lockers which are on these leaflets here." She handed them over, and smiled the most forced smile she could manage. "Good luck!"

Besanii nodded, strutting away without a thanks.

"Thank you." Volkner smiled, causing the woman to flush again, and he could have sworn he heard her giggle when she thought he was far enough away.

When he'd caught up with his surprisingly fast girlfriend, he stayed silent for a second, before he suddenly couldn't hold it any longer. "What was that about?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't feign innocence."

"What are you talking about?"

"She was practically drooling over you and you didn't notice? I'm surprised your ego didn't explode." She perked a brow, her voice only light and sarcastic, but he knew better than to push his luck about it. She was being nonchalant about it now, but if he said the wrong words, he was sure it would result in an argument.

"I only have eyes for one girl." He insisted coyly, taking her hand and kissing the upper side of it.

Though she couldn't help but giggle, she pulled her hand away and pouted. "Stop being so corny."

He chuckled, pleased that he'd safely made his way across the thin ice without so much as a crack. "Should I start calling you baby and offer eskimo kisses?"

Horrified at the thought, her eyes widened. "No! That's so disgustingly sweet..."

He grinned and took her hand again, just leaving them to dangle at their sides as they walked down the corridor. "I'll just call you my Boo then?"

She sighed. "Fine."

"There's a cafe over there, do you want to get a drink while we wait?" Volkner suggested, pointing to the tiny little coffee bar with a few tables and sofas to lounge on. Surprisingly, there were already a few other duos waiting to battle too, and most of them eyed up their competition as they entered. Many of them seemed to be just friends who were travelling partners, from what Besanii could hear. She also heard one person mutter about them being 'another couple' as if it were a bad thing to want to battle together. She 'hmphed' and decided she would prove them wrong when she and Volkner wiped the floor of all competition.

Having been away in her own little world of revenge, Volkner had already ordered their tea and had received it. She blinked back into reality and smiled, leading them to the little table in the corner, and began pouring the tea for the both of them.

She lowered her voice so only Volkner could hear her. "That guy over there," she nodded to a trainer with silvery grey hair that had been swept up into neat spikes, "said that we're 'just another couple waiting to be beaten.' How rude."

Volkner shrugged, taking a sip of tea before replying. "He's right, usually. Have you never battled a couple on your travels?"

She recalled that she had several times, and they'd all been far too distracted in each other to be able to focus on a battle properly and she'd beaten them on her own with little struggle at all.

"Hmm... I guess we really aren't like most people, are we?"

"Definitely not."

She raised her cup to him. "To beating the crap out of him."

He rolled his eyes, but humoured her nonetheless. "And the rest." He concluded, clashing their cups together.

* * *

**OMG I apologise for the lateness. I will hopefully be getting more time soon so I can write more often. **


	34. Teamwork

"And the final battle of the double battle tournament is between Team E and Team F! Team E consists of the well known duo of Goldenrod City, the Dynamic Twins of the Battle Colosseum; Taylor and Raghen!"

The crowd obviously did know of the twins, as they went wild with excitement in anticipation for the match. They were both fair haired, with shockingly blue eyes, their features only differing slightly to suit their gender better. Their styling couldn't have been more drastically different though, as Raghen was rather into wearing sporty clothes that most travellers would wear, whilst Taylor stuck with her girly nature and wore a pretty pink dress. They couldn't have been older than fourteen, and yet they had already made a name for themselves in this huge city.

"And Team F is new to the Battle Colosseum but by no means inexperienced; the Shining Shocking Star of Sunyshore City, Volkner and the foreign Top Coordinator Besanii!"

Their cheer wasn't as loud, but from the reaction they received, it was clear they weren't unknown in the region.

"Release your pokemon!"

Besanii grinned, "Salamence, you're up first!"

"Electivire, you too!" Volkner added, revealing his largest electric type next to the even bigger dragon. They nodded to each other in agreement, and psyched out their opponents as they emerged.

The twins released their pokemon in sync, an Ariados taking it's place on Raghen's side whilst Taylor was represented by her Wartortle.

"This is a non-time limit two on two battle, the battle ends once one party is out of both pokemon! And begin!" The referee announced.

"Up, Salamence!" Besanii yelled, and her pokemon roared and beat it's intimidating and impressive wing span to lift itself high off the ground.

The twins, aware of their type disadvantages, began to set up a defence. "Ariados! Spider Web!"

"And freeze that with ice beam, Wartortle!"

Cleverly, the two attacks combined were efficiently forming a shield, holding Salamence away from the other three pokemon unless it smashed it's way through it. Studying the thickness of the ice, Besanii decided against the idea.

"Find a way through it, I'll be alright for now." Volkner muttered. Besanii nodded, watching Salamence soar above the ice and realising that if this were a contest, they'd already be losing and nobody had been hit yet.

"Flamethrower, get through there!" Besanii demanded.

Wartortle easily leapt through a gap in he web, using an impressive hydro pump to deflect the fire.

"Cross poison!"

Electivire charged forward, ready for the attack and waiting on Volkner's command. He didn't utter a word.

As the spider pokemon closed in, Electivire knew what was happening, and held his hands out ready. The antennae slashed forward and Electivire caught both of them, grunting as the special attack power that had been pulsing through it seeped into its hands.

"Now screech!"

Electivire grinned and unleashed its cry. The Ariados squealed in pain, but it was completely drowned out by ferocious battle cry echoing through the building.

"Wartortle, Skull Bash!"

Just as Salamence and Wartortle finished their special attack sparring, the water type fell from it's leap, through the web's small gap and headlong into Electivire's back. The three pokemon crashed along the floor and separated, all three needing a second to recover from their tumble.

Besanii took her chance. "Draco Meteor!"

Salamence nodded, making short work of the ice whilst unhindered. The meteors crashed loudly, and the massive dragon charged in after them, shattering the ice web into shards over the pokemon below.

Volkner grinned. "Fantastic."

Besanii cackled beside him and shot her hand forward. "Time for our combinations! Salamence, Dragon Claw on Wartortle!"

Volkner glanced at her, but she was already explaining. "Give us a spark." She winked.

He nodded. "Thunderbolt!"

The electricity darted after Salamence, colliding into his claw and creating a magnificent spark.

Reghen stepped in. "String shot!"

Just as Salamence closed in for what would have been the finishing blow, Ariados unleashed a thick web of string, immediately flooring the large dragon type by tying its wings to it's body.

"Wartortle!"

With little command, Wartortle leapt high above Salamence and fired a strong ice beam onto his back. He roared in agony as his tied up wings froze up at the joints in his spine.

"No!" Besanii cried, turning to look at Volkner, who was frowning.

"The Dynamic Twins are really coming down on their challengers, not letting up on their fantastic duo defence!" The commentator chattered excitedly, and it caused Volkner to grumble under his breath.

"They're combinations..." Besanii hissed, slightly in awe. They had obviously had lots of practice with this. She and Volkner, though, had not.

"We're not out." Volkner assured her, taking a step forward and yelling at Electivire. "Hyper Beam!"

Cringing, Besanii took a step aside and looked at her predicament while Electivire pushed the opponents back. Without his wings, Salamence's speed was greatly reduced, and he didn't have the special defence he would need to stand against many more ice beams should they land. Being one of her youngest pokemon, it panicked, and began to stomp around, crashing his tail into Electivire's back and firing a huge flamethrower towards Ariados.

Electivire, caught off guard, lost control of the hyper beam and it fired straight for the twins. They leapt aside, laughing.

"It looks like Volkner and Besanii aren't in sync at all! And with the dynamic twins not letting up on the offence, how are they going to get out of this?"

"Snap out of it, Salamence!" Besanii barked sharply, and Salamence backed away whimpering, his wings twitching in pain as the cold ice began to bite at his joints.

"Now use flamethrower on yourself!" She told him a little more calmly, knowing that if she stayed firm, so would her pokemon.

"Wartortle! Skull bash on Electivire."

"I'm going to need some cover, Besanii." Volkner warned.

She nodded. "Steel wing, now!"

Though the ice wasn't melted, it had weakened its grip, and as Salamence batted away the turtle pokemon, the ice shattered with it, showering the three pokemon involved in a hailstorm.

"Now thunder fang!"

Salamence was suddenly on a roll, catching Wartorle as it rebounded backwards and pulsed electricity through it's body.

"Ariados! Psychic!"

Quickly, the bug type pulled the electricity straight from Salamence and reflected them toward Electivire. Meanwhile, no longer distracted by being shocked, Wartortle withdrew into its shell, and spun under the command of it's trainer. Salamence quickly let go to avoid losing his teeth.

Electivire, suddenly fully charged up by the mistake of the Ariados, nodded to Volkner that it was ready to continue.

"One more combination, if we can knock out Ariados, we've won this." Volkner muttered.

Besanii nodded. "You first."

He grinned. "Earthquake!"

"Add a flamethrower!" Besanii commanded.

The two attacks rippled out, Salamence taking to the air just as the earthquake came close. Though Wartortle wasn't affected too much from the fire attack, the both of them felt the huge rumble in the earth, ripping up rocks all around them. The fire blasted into cracks and followed along, igniting Ariados and causing it to scream in pain.

"Salamence!" She cried, commanding her pokemon to go in for the kill. "Steel wing! Finish it!

"Ice Beam!"

Electivire sprang forward, knowing it needed to finish Wartortle before it finished it's partner. Salamence was knocked aside by a vicious ice beam, and Ariados was left standing.

"Thunder Punch!" Volkner barked, finishing off the distracted water type completely.

Besanii grinned, nudging Volkner as she yelled for one last flamethrower.

"Psychic!" Reghen commanded, slightly worried now.

Electivire was there once more, this time protecting Salamence from the attack while Salamence landed the final blow on Ariados.

"And that settles it! Volkner and Besanii somehow managed to pull the victory out of the bag, becoming the winners of this tournament!" The commentator exclaimed, slightly in shock.

With a happy cry, Besanii threw herself at Volkner, knocking him backwards slightly, but it wasn't enough to make him fall over. Fortunately, Salamence managed to fix that by tackling the both to the floor, licking at Besanii's face in delight. Electivire stood aside, taken aback by Salamence's brutish yet harmless nature. He was far more calm and collected, but it was still amusing to watch his trainer struggle beneath the weight of the huge dragon.

* * *

With the quick closing ceremony over, the two hurried out, clutching small trophies and VIP tickets to a fancy nightclub. Besanii had kept quiet about her age, and they'd happily decided that the tickets would come in handy that night.

"Right, so now that we've finished there, what do you want to do?" Volkner sighed, wiped out from battling so hard.

Besanii shrugged, glancing at her watch. "Well I'm hungry, and I'll have to start getting ready soon..."

"Fast food for tonight?" He suggested.

She nodded, easily tempted by the junk food option. He grinned and took her arm, leading her into the busier part of the city, making a point of keeping contact with her as they did so. She glanced down as his hand slid into hers, and smiled back up at him.

"We're a good team, right?" He smiled, very clearly buzzing from the high of winning. It had been a long time since he'd taken pleasure in battling, and he had a feeling it was something to do with the girl beside him.

"Very good, unstoppable." She agreed, a slight spring in her step as well. She was happy and distracted, which she was content in staying like for as long as possible.

They rounded a corner together, and Volker pointed his trophy at a tiny burger joint next to a monstrous bike shop.

"The best fast food in town." He informed her, towing her long as she pursed her lips and followed.

* * *

Having ate their food whilst walking back, they arrived back at the Lane household and began to get ready for their night out. Besanii had spent an hour already on curling her hair and applying heavier make up, and Volkner had long since decided he needn't put a shirt on for another hour as he was going to be waiting that long for her. Instead he lay stretched over the bed, hands behind his head and legs crossed as he watched her.

"Stop looking at me." She snapped playfully.

"Why?"

"You're putting me off!" She insisted, waving her spare arm at him. He chuckled and looked up at the ceiling for a little while, until finally looking back at her.

Since when had he become so besotted with her? Sure, ever since he'd met her, he had been interested in her. She was odd, and even when she didn't voice it, she still demanded attention. But now... Now she captured his attention, and he couldn't seem to take his eyes off her. She was fascinating. The way she left her mouth puckered in a round shape while she painted her eyes, the way she would glance over to him and then close her mouth because she'd been caught doing so...

He sighed. Flint was right. He was whipped harder than cream.

"There!" She grinned, pressing her lips together and then pushing them out to reveal that they'd been painted in a bright red to match her hair. She whipped her head around to smile at him, and he said nothing. He didn't have the words.

She beamed even harder at his expression. "Thanks." She chuckled, wandering over to where he lay and sitting by his side.

"Oh, you know what?"

"What?" He perked a brow.

"You took me battling today." She smiled gently.

Silence occurred for a few seconds.

"I am aware of what we did today, Besanii." He muttered, frowning in confusion.

She giggled and shook her head. "Well, that means we're on second date terms."

He recalled what she had said about her relationship rules, but his frown didn't relent. "Battling isn't really a date, is it?"

"To me it is, I thought it was really romantic and spontaneous." She shrugged. "And we got trophies!"

He rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

"Well you know what that means?"

"What?" Besanii grinned.

"We're going to have lots of fun tonight."


End file.
